SAMMIE ABBOTT
Sammie Abbott (born April 25, 1908) was an American politician who served as the 18th mayor of Takoma Park, Maryland, from 1980 to 1985.
Abbott enrolled in Cornell University to study architecture but dropped out a few credits short of his degree to organize farmers and the unemployed in Buffalo, New York and Niagara, New York during the Great Depression.
In 1938, he met his wife, Ruth, in a Buffalo jail when she came to visit her father, a bricklayer and union activist, who had been arrested with Abbott.Together, they moved to Washington, D.C. in 1940, and Abbott and his father-in-law built a house in Takoma Park.
In the 1950s he actively campaigned for the adoption of the Bertrand Russell peace petition.
He described himself as a Marxist, and in 1954, he was accused of being a member of the Communist party and called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. After his testimony, he was fired from his job as a commercial artist, turning to freelance work.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Abbott was one of the leaders of the Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis (ECTC), organizing the opposition to the construction of the North Central Freeway through Northeast Washington and Takoma Park, using the slogan, “No white men’s roads through black men’s homes.”
Abbott ran for mayor of Takoma Park in 1978, but lost by just 8 votes. He won the office in 1980, and was re-elected in 1982 and 1984. As mayor, he oversaw the institution of rent control, installed speed bumps and four-way stops to slow traffic
During his tenure, Takoma Park declared itself a Nuclear-free zone and a sanctuary for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees. Abbott declared Takoma Park “Tree City, USA,” and the city, which had been known as “Tacky Park,” acquired the nickname of the “People’s Republic of Takoma.”
In his bid for a fourth term in 1985, Abbott lost by just seven votes.
Abbott died on December 15, 1990. The Takoma Park City Council passed a resolution lowering the city flag to half-mast, and the Montgomery County Council declared January 5, 1991, Sammie Abbott Day. Hundreds attended a memorial service that was held at the Washington Ethical Society.
In 2002, Abbott was inducted into the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame. In 2015, a plaque was dedicated for Abbott in the Citizens’ Center. The plaque recognizes Abbott’s contributions to Takoma Park and concludes with a quote from him: “If we can’t make it happen in Takoma Park, there’s no hope for the nation.”<
SAMMIE ABBOTT