By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
As a leader, Peggy Joan Maxie, the first Black woman elected to the Washington House of Representatives, District 37, understood the meaning of “humaneness.”
Humaneness necessitates love and compassion for the people, “being aware of their toils. The balance of everything in life is important and understanding of when to let go of yourself and let love and compassion rule is pivotal.”
Many are aware of Maxie’s accolades and her accomplishments politically as a pioneering congresswoman, but some may not know that her journey and influence was fueled by her love for family, and her desire to serve others.
According to her sister-in-law Sharon Miller-Maxie, Maxie’s top priorities were family and helping to improve the lives of others.
“Her joy was family,” says Miller-Maxie. “Particularly through her nieces and nephews, as Maxie never had children of her own, she loved her nieces and nephews as her own children.”
“Family was big to her. She always stayed in close proximity to her mother and brothers and sisters,” Miller-Maxie adds.
Her nephew, Rodney Maxie, Operational Deputy Director of Seattle Department of Transportation, remembers his aunt as being very helpful and supportive of everything he was trying to accomplish.
“She was always supportive of all of her family, very family-oriented,” says Rodney Maxie. “[She was] always involved in all of our lives, especially since she never had children, she was always trying to figure out ways to aid, help, and support us.”
As it relates to her nieces and nephews, Peggy made it a point to help them get off to a positive start to the new school year by taking them school shopping.
“She would take all of her nieces and nephews school shopping every year. They were her extended family,” Miller-Maxie recalls. “She would take them all over to the university village, take them to lunch, buy them all school clothes; money wasn’t an object for her, and the kids just loved it.”
Born August 18, 1936, in Amarillo, Texas, Peggy Maxie was born to Cleveland and Rebecca Maxie, an auto mechanic and a housewife. And as a part of the Great Negro Migration, by 1942 Rebecca moved her and her children to the Pacific Northwest in hopes of securing a job with Boeing Aircraft Company, which she landed a day after their arrival.
After the family had settled in their new surroundings, Peggy attended first grade at Immaculate Conception, continuing at the school until she graduated high school in 1955.
Maxie went on to earn a B.A. in Psychology in 1970 from Seattle University and an M.S.W. from the University of Washington in 1972.
Upon graduating, Maxie began working as a legal secretary for the attorney general’s office, and for the Seattle Urban League. Over a period of time, Maxie also studied with the Sisters of Charity at Providence to become a nun.
Maxie grew up in the Central District, befriending neighbors, a part of a generation that would go on to produce major and influential figures in Seattle and Washington state.
Maxie was elected in 1970 to represent the 37th Legislative District, an area stretching from the Central District to Southeast Seattle, and would go on to serve six terms.
Reserved, resolute, Maxie led the effort to pass the Landlord-Tenant Act, which defined for the first time in modern Washington history the legal rights of renters and responsibilities of landlords.
“If I was to boil it down, how I defined my aunt, Peggy was quiet, resolute, determined,” says Rodney Maxie. “She had us and the family going door to door when I was 4 and 5 years old. She was elected every year for the next 11 years. I worked on her campaigns, all the way up till I became a page in Olympia, twice, at the ages of 12 and 13.”
Maxie’s relationship with her community influenced young people to do great things; for example, the current Mayor of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, remembers Maxie’s influence and the relationship she had with his parents in the political environment of the time.
“She (Maxie) and her brother were friends with my father in political circles in the 70s and 80s,” remembers Harrell. “My mother and father worked for Model Cities and were part of that generation of minorities that helped build Seattle.”
“Over the years, she always had a kind and supportive word for me if I ever bumped into her,” Harrell recalls. “And she was very astute politically.”
Local politics was favored in the Maxie family. During that period, Maxie’s brother Robert Maxie encouraged and supported her run for office. Prior to that, her brother Fred considered running for Position 2 in the same race only to bow out to go to law school.
“Her political career was courageous,” says Rodney Maxie. “She was in Olympia, and she wasn’t just the only Black woman, she was the only Black person in the House. There was only George Fleming on the Senate side.”
“In 1979, when I went down there as a page, there were no other Black people in congress. All the pages were white, only a couple of Black pages including myself, and the pages that were Black were all sponsored by George Fleming and my aunt,” he added.
While there were many obstacles placed before her as a member of the state legislature, Maxie was both persistent and effective.
In 1973, Maxie was the prime sponsor of the House version of a bill that became the Landlord-Tenant Act of Washington State. The law established landlord responsibilities such as maintenance, and notification before entry into a tenant’s unit.
She also sponsored the bill that brought the first driver’s license testing facility to the Central Area. She sponsored the Displaced Homemakers Act, which assisted women who lost income due to the death or disability of a spouse, or by divorce.
One thing most were unaware of is that Maxie was also an astute businesswoman. After losing her seat to Gary Locke in 1982, she founded Women In Unity, a non-profit focusing on employment and advocacy for African American Women, and Peggy Maxie and Associates, a private mental health therapy practice.
“She was an incredible businesswoman,” says Rodney Maxie. “A lot of people didn’t talk about that, but her business did really, really well. She ran that business for like 35 years very successfully, and a lot of people didn’t realize that she was also a very successful businesswoman.”
Humaneness, the caring for and serving others. Peggy Maxie truly embodied the meaning of that word. Her leadership is legendary and pioneering. Her influence is still felt today, and she is loved and honored by her community as she has transitioned, passing away on February 18, 2024, at the age of 87.
“Peggy was a role model and still is a role model to all the people in Seattle, to all the communities,” says Rodney Maxie. “Everybody loved her, from the Black community to the Asian community, the Hispanic community. She would give up time and listen and go fight for them, especially during a crazy time in the early 70s when there was a lot of political violence. But she saw how important it was for somebody to represent the community.”
