Gabrielle Russon
Adora Nweze’s quarter-century tenure as President of the NAACP Florida State Conference is coming to an end, and the organization plans to honor her this week.
Her supporters are celebrating her leadership as the organization’s annual convention begins Thursday in Orlando.
For Nweze, who is 83, she has no plans of stopping her advocacy and will continue to chair the NAACP’s national education committee.
Over the past 25 years, Nweze has made headlines in newspapers across Florida for advocating against bills making it harder to vote, calling on a probe of police’s deadly use of force and supporting other civil rights issues.
“She is a fierce leader,” said Daniella Pierre, who chairs the WIN Committee (Women in NAACP) that will throw a luncheon Saturday in honor of Nweze. “She is a diehard advocate.”
But Pierre and Nweze, a retired Miami-Dade educator, both agree that the President’s lasting impact will be her fight for education.
“Our public schools are dying, our teachers are leaving, parents and families are moving around the country. We’ve got a problem in the country and certainly in our communities, in the Black communities, in the disabled communities, in the poor communities,” Nweze said. “If we don’t put public education back on the table with high quality, we are not looking at a bright future. And that bothers me.”
Nweze’s life has been intertwined in education and fighting for civil rights.
Nweze’s father died when she was a baby. So while her mother worked, Nweze’s grandmother held little Nweze on her lap while she taught kindergarten. Perhaps that’s why Nweze was reading by age 2.
As an adult, she followed her grandma’s footsteps and became a teacher herself. Through her promotions and a nearly 40-year career, Nweze worked to help educate special-needs students, at-risk students and others.
Nweze first joined the NAACP when one of the district’s parents asked her if she wanted to get involved.
“I said yes, and I never stopped,” Nweze said.
Even after she retired from the school system, Nweze stayed busy in what she described as a “24/7” role as President of the NAACP Florida State Conference.
Preparing to say goodbye as President, Nweze said she will miss the people she works with the most.
“They made the difference and still do,” Nweze said. “We talk about all of the things that are not good, but we don’t talk about the people who have given them their hearts, their resources, and they keep right on day after day.”
