Barbara Blackmon

who had both been elected to Mississippi House of Representatives in 1951.

Later that same year, the districts were changed again, with 12 districts changed to better represent minorities by including more black voters.

Her house was moved to District 21 (composed of Humphreys, Yazoo, and Madison Counties), one of the redrawn districts.

Also living in the district was farmer and merchant Ollie Mohamed, a 67-year-old, 21-year Senate member and its incumbent president pro tempore.

Barbara Anita Blackmon (nee Martin, born December 7, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate, representing the 21st district from 2016 to 2024.

Barbara Martin was born on December 7, 1955, in Jackson, Mississippi.

Martin then enrolled at the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1978.

She faced housing discrimination when attempting to rent an apartment there.

Disliking the "very subtle" covert racism she experienced in California more than the overt racism in Mississippi, she later commented, "Give me Mississippi. At least there I know what I'm dealing with.".

After a year living in Santa Clara, she moved back to Mississippi in 1979.

That year, she entered the University of Mississippi School of Law, where she became the President of the Black American Law Student Association.

One of her professors was Karen Green (a tax law specialist professor), who encouraged Martin to attend Green's alma mater at New York University.

Despite not knowing anybody in New York, Martin moved to New York City to attend the college.

She graduated in 1982, receiving an L. L. M. degree in Taxation.

Martin spent the next year living alone in "a tiny apartment" in Midtown Manhattan and working in the tax department of the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers.

She later noted that her success in New York city away from friends and family gave her the confidence that she had the ability to succeed anywhere.

In 1983, she moved back to Mississippi, where she started a tax practice within the Banks & Nichols law firm.

At a fundraising event hosted by Mike Espy in 1984, she met Edward Blackmon, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives.

They married in 1986.

In 1991, as the Mississippi Legislature was redistricting, her husband Edward convinced her to run for the Mississippi State Senate.

She ran on the premise of changing government spending, supporting an "activist government" that would give more opportunities to disadvantaged people.

She previously served in the Senate from 1992 to 2004.

She won a special election, held on March 10, 1992, to replace District 20 Senator Bob Montgomery, who had resigned to "settle an ethics dispute".

Edward did not expect her to win the election due to the district being majority-white.

Blackmon won the election due to her own vigorous campaigning in majority-black Canton and rural northern Madison County, and door-to-door campaigning in majority-white southern Madison County, in which she answered questions and concerns of white voters.

She was sworn in to the State Senate on March 16, 1992.

She and Edward became the first husband-and-wife pair to serve simultaneously in the Legislature since John B. and Orene Farese.

Blackmon and Mohamed faced each other in the Democratic primary on August 4, 1992.

During the campaign, Blackmon outspent Mohamed, $35,000 to $10,600 respectively.

Although Mohamed believed he was sure to win the primary, he lost to Blackmon, with 5,707 votes for Blackmon and 5,017 votes for Mohamed.

In the general election, Blackmon defeated Republican challenger Cecil Cartwright (a retired manufacturer and former CIA agent) with a vote total of 11,256 to 8,003 votes.

Cartwright called the election "a far cry from honest" and said that improper tactics were used in Yazoo polling locations.

She was the seventh of nine children of farmer and lumber mill worker Julious Martin (died 1999) and his wife, homemaker Willie Thelma (Barnes) Martin (1921-2012).

Neither of her parents had graduated from high school, although her mother later obtained her G.E.D. at the age of 50.

During her childhood, Martin and her siblings would spend their summers on their grandparents' farm near Utica, Mississippi, where they "spent a lot of time pruning, picking, planting, everything".

She later cited her experiences on the farm "made her determined to get an education".

Barbara attended Wingfield High School, graduating at the age of 16.

She then attended Jackson State University, obtaining her M. B. A. degree at 19.

She then attended, and received a second M.B.A. from the University of Alabama at the age of 20.

Then, she taught for several years at Hinds Community College.