Margaret Rose Henry speeches

The Honorable Margaret Rose Henry, elected in 1994 as the Delaware State Senator for the 2nd Senatorial District (Wilmington East), was born on June 20, 1944, in Rayne, Louisiana. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Southern University in sociology and psychology and a Master of Arts degree from Springfield College in community leadership and development. She was the first African American woman to serve in the Delaware State senate.

In addition to serving as a Delaware State Senator, Margaret Rose Henry was an administrator at Ingleside Retirement Apartments in Wilmington, Delaware. Previously, she held the positions of the executive director for Girls, Incorporated, and senior allocations associate at the United Way of Delaware.

She has served on a number of committees in the Delaware Senate, including Bond Bill; Children, Youth & Their Families; Health & Social Services; Labor; and Public Safety. Her affiliations include serving on the boards of trustees of the Medical Center of Delaware and Wesley College (Dover), as a former chair of the Delaware State Arts Council, and as a former president of the Wilmington Chapter of Links, Inc. She has also been a member of the Governor's Commission on Families, the State Human Relations Commission, the Delaware Agency to Reduce Crime, the City of Wilmington Civil Rights Commission (chair), and the Board of Directors for Child, Inc.

In 1996 Senator Henry was in the news because of her decision to change political parties. Elected in 1994 as a Democrat running on the Republican ticket, she subsequently affiliated with the Republican Party. However, in 1996 Senator Henry returned her political allegiance to the Democratic Party.

Biographical information derived from the articles and clippings in F19.“State Senator Margaret Rose Henry Second Senatorial District, Wilmington, DE,” Blacks in Delaware http://www1.udel.edu/blacksindelaware/Henry.htm