Anita Lee Blair

Anita Lee Blair (September 8, 1916 – August 25, 2010) was an American politician and activist from Texas. She was the first blind woman elected to any state legislature in the United States.Anita Lee Blair was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and raised in El Paso, Texas. She graduated from Austin High School in that city, in 1933. She became blind after a car accident at age 19, in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Quotes

• I do not feel that I am going to set the world on fire, but I feel that there is a place for some practical work to be done.
• My opponents have not committed themselves to any specific platform – my position has (been) entirely clear.
• Whoever is misinterpreting my remarks must be more interested in my opponent than in organized labor.
• My opponent has never been quoted on a platform; his campaign is solely based on the fact he has been in public office for forty years.
• We cannot rob our institutions of learning of their ability to get facts. The truth is our greatest weapon against communism.
• I resent that some people do not want to listen to the truth.  I will run on my record . . . I have never waited to see how a vote was going to go and then vote in the house with the crowd.
  • El Paso’s First Woman State Legislator Retrieved 18 April 2025

Quotes about Anita Lee Blair

• She has the understanding of working man’s problems through earning her own living despite handicap of blindness.
• Her victory made national headlines; even Time magazine did an article about her victory.
• Blair was a local pioneer who broke new ground for women and people with disabilities in Texas. She was a fighter who did not back down and was willing to stand for causes she felt were important. Blair was ahead of her time.
  • El Paso’s First Woman State Legislator Retrieved 18 April 2025