Page 3 - Florida Sen tinel 2-17-17

Feature
After 16 Years:
Civil Rights Icon Returns To Legal Profession
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Arthenia Joyner, one of Hillsborough County’s most no- table Black women who recently ended her tenure as a state law- maker, due to term limits, has returned to private practice at Vanguard Attorneys Law Firm.
Her commitment to public service has far from ended, though, as she was recently ap- pointed by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court to the 2017 Constitutional Revi- sion Commission, a prestigious group tasked with reviewing the state constitution once every twenty years.
“My father preached to us, ‘to whom much is given, much is required.’ He told us we had an obligation to give back,” Sena- tor Joyner, said, reflecting on her father’s words as one of the key inspirations in her life.
“Safeguarding Florida’s rights and obligations contained in our constitution is a way for me to exemplify his words.”
She was an elementary stu- dent when the desegregation lawsuit Brown vs. Board Of
Education came about. The legal battle drew her attention to the legal profession. “It inspired me.Iwasin5thgradeandI knew that I wanted to be a lawyer. From then on, that was my goal, my dream.”
She attended Middleton High School and became a writer for the Florida Sen- tinel in 9th grade. “I was the teen editor for social and high school sports. Mr. C. Blythe Andrews, Jr., gave me that opportunity,” she said.
It was also during this time that she became active in the Civil Rights Movement, partici- pating as a high school student in a sit-in at Woolworth’s Lunch Counter organized by Clarence Fort, and led by the late Judge George Edgecomb, who was then the President of the Mid- dleton High School Student Body.
After graduating from Mid- dleton High School, she was ac- cepted at Florida A & M University, where she earned her degree in 1964, and contin- ued her activism by taking part in two sit-ins at theaters and churches. She was arrested
twice.
After graduating from
FAMU, Senator Joyner re- turned to Tampa and taught at Booker T. Washington Junior High School for a year. “I still wanted to go to law school, but my father said he wasn’t going to pay for it. So, I taught school for a year, and with my savings, two jobs on campus, grants and scholarships, I went to FAMU School of Law.” After graduating in 1968, she found firms were not eager to hire a Black female lawyer. So her father took her to the bank where she obtained a loan for $1,000 to open her own law office, where she practiced with Delano Stewart.
The road to Tallahassee began as a legislative assistant to former State Representa- tive Joe Lang Kershaw, where the duo were the only two Blacks in the State Capitol not part of the janitorial staff. She later returned to the House of Representatives after winning her first legislative election in 2000.
She was elected to the Florida Senate six years later. During her legislative tenure,
she passed legislation to provide compensation for individuals wrongfully incarcerated, ban the shackling of pregnant female prison inmates, the preservation of Tampa’s Historic Central Av- enue legacy, and the procure- ment of funding for Computer Mentors STEM Corps High School Program.
As the first Black female to lead the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2014 through 2016, she also successfully sued the House Speaker for abandon- ing the legislative session during an impasse over expanding healthcare in Florida.
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. During her legisla- tive service, she has been the re- cipient of 8o awards. Term limits forced the closure of the legislative chapter in Senator Joyner’s life.
As a private citizen, the Lakeland-born attorney has re- turned to Tampa, practicing law at Vanguard Attorneys Law Firm. She has been a practicing attorney for 47 years, --- longer than any other Black woman in Florida history.
Her service on the Constitu-
tional Revision Commission, which will begin around the start of the 2017 Legislative Ses- sion, will last for one year, as the group reviews the Florida Con- stitution and issues recommen- dations for changes.
Senator Joyner not only credits the guidance of her par- ents, Henry and Jean Joyner, but former teachers Clemmie James and Jessie Artest, and community lead- ers, for the course she set in life, including the number of “firsts” she pioneered.
She was the first Black fe- male to practice law in Hillsbor- ough County; the first Black to practice law in Polk County; the first Black Governor’s appointee to the Hillsborough County Avi- ation Authority; the first Black female selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce; the first Black fe- male and first Black officer to serve on the Hillsborough County Bar Association.
In her service to a higher power, you can often find her on Sunday at Allen Temple A. M. E. Church.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-A