Hon. Dianne Wilkerson

2025  Community Leader Award (The Nubian Square Foundation)

 

Dianne Wilkerson’s life is a story of triumph and challenges. She has been defying odds from the beginning as a daughter of the segregated south and the descendant of slaves. She gained a reputation early on for tackling the most difficult social economic and political issues.

 

Wilkerson holds a B.S. in Public Administration from American International College, a J.D. from Boston College Law School, and a Masters in Organizational Leadership (MOL) from Colorado Christian University. In 1991, she became the first African American female to obtain a partnership in a major Boston law firm. In 1993, she was sworn in as the first African American female ever to serve in the Massachusetts Senate where she served as the only African American in the Senate for her entire 15-year tenure.

 

 

Fairness, equity, and justice are the hallmarks of her life's work. Wilkerson served as Counsel for the Boston Branch NAACP when she represented a class of 1900 Black, Latino and Asian applicants who were victims of housing discrimination in a lawsuit against the Boston Housing Authority, and the NAACP v. HUD, which remains the largest discrimination settlement against the agency reaping $460 million and a host of mandated policy changes in the City of Boston fair housing laws. She also represented hundreds of Boston Black homeowners who lost their homes in the predatory lending scandal in the 90's. Wilkerson established the Commission to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, the most comprehensive statewide effort in the country. In 2004, she co- chaired the Public Construction Reform Commission with then Rep. Marty Walsh. As the author of the Racial Profiling Data Collection Bill, Wrongful Conviction Compensation Bill, the Birth Control Pill Bill, and the first (only) in the nation Community Reinvestment Act in Insurance Bill, Wilkerson holds the distinction as having authored the most precedent setting and impactful legislation of any legislator to have served.

 

During the frenzied series of Massachusetts major bank mergers in the late 90's, Wilkerson served as Chair of the Statewide Negotiating Committee which resulted in a $6.2B community investment agreement targeted to minority and low-income residents in Massachusetts.

 

In 2003, Wilkerson stepped into the national spotlight when she joined with some of her colleagues to wage a fierce battle against the attempt to place discrimination in the Massachusetts Constitution. She supported the decision of the SJC in Goodrich v. Dept. of Public Health, which legalized gay marriage. Wilkerson has consistently supported health, social, and economic development throughout her community.

Wilkerson’s battled tirelessly outside of the political arena as well for economic empowerment and social justice using non-legislative strategies. For example, as a co-convener of the Coalition for Caring, Wilkerson led in the effort to rehabilitate, house, clothe, feed and find jobs for the thousands of Katrina survivors who sought refuge in Massachusetts. She convened the Annual 21st Century Black Massachusetts Conference, (2002-2006) which was inspired by the 2000 national conference on the State of Black America with the purpose of creating a forum for thousands of Black residents from across the Commonwealth to discuss, plan and strategize their place and role as residents of Massachusetts in the 21st Century.

Since leaving public service Wilkerson has focused on advocating for racial equity and Black/Latino wealth creation and reducing health disparities. In 2020, she founded the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition which is credited with ensuring Black/Latino and other residents of color in Greater Boston got PPE, information, and was responsible for ensuring over 500,000 tests and vaccinations were accessed. She served as the Phone Bank Manager for the National Voting Rights Alliance in 2020, directing 1600 volunteers and executing 522,000 phone calls into southern Georgia for the U.S. Senate races in January 2021. She is a well sought-after speaker/adviser on matters of economic development, civil rights, health equity, environmental justice, closing the racial achievement gap and creating wealth for Black MA residents. Wilkerson served as President of the Friends of Melnea Cass Recreational Facility, member of the Advisory Committee of SkyLab and has been honored by the Boston Branch NAACP, Boston Fair Housing Commission, Daughters of the Eastern Star of Prince Hall Lodge, and the Caribbean Carnival Association of Boston. She was named as one of the 100 Most Impactful Women in Boston in 2020, 100 Most Influential Bostonians in 2021, and Boston Magazine’s 100 Most Influential in Boston in 2022. Her latest project, CONTEMPORATIONS, INC may be the most transformative economic development, Black/Latino wealth creation efforts ever in Boston! Stay tuned.