After a vote in the Illinois House on a key part of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pension relief plan in 2016, Barbara Flynn Currie did something not often seen in these times of divided, dysfunctional government. She crossed the aisle and shook hands with the three Republican lawmakers who broke ranks with the GOP and voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a measure deferring police and fire pension payments.
That was Currie, 85, who died Thursday. She not only represented her Hyde Park district in Springfield for 40 years — 20 as majority leader and the first woman to hold that role in the Illinois General Assembly — she was a tireless promoter of active, engaged, effective government.
“Last night we lost a giant,” House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, posted on his Facebook page Friday. “Barbara Flynn Currie was more than a leader — she was a trailblazer who opened doors for generations of women in the Illinois House, many of whom continue her legacy today. ... She set the standard for what it means to serve with purpose. Her impact will be felt for generations.”
Her district encompassed Hyde Park, Woodlawn, South Shore and Kenwood, and she was a vigorous proponent of liberal causes, such as prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, reforming school funding and offering all-day kindergarten. She spearheaded a compromise on welfare reform and helped extend state contracts to minority- and female-owned businesses.
In 2009, she chaired the special 21-member bipartisan committee that recommended the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
”We stand here today because of the perfidy of one man: Rod Blagojevich,” said Currie. “To overturn the results of an election is not something that should be undertaken lightly.”
Every member of the Illinois House and Senate, save one, voted to impeach.
With women making up a record 32% of state legislatures across the country, it might be difficult to remember the male world that Currie entered. When she was elected in 1978, fewer than 11% of Springfield lawmakers were women. When she announced her retirement in 2017, that figure was more than a third, and in 2025 the Illinois Legislature was 42% female.
Then-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s decision to name her as majority leader in 1997 was unexpected: Downstate Democrats felt they had a hereditary right to the position, didn’t like the powerful post to pass to a Chicagoan, a woman, and perhaps worst of all, a liberal. Women across the spectrum saw it as a milestone.
”Republican women gave me flowers,” Currie later recalled. “Secretaries and staff in the Capitol were thrilled. One of my girlfriends nearly ran her car off the road. The depth of excitement was really quite thrilling.”
Still, some of Currie’s supporters looked askance at her playing ball with Madigan.
”To them, Currie was a sellout for taking the appointment from the hated machine politician Madigan,” Rich Miller of Capitol Fax wrote. “It never occurred to most of them that Currie’s new position would give their viewpoints an important new seat at the grown-ups table.”
Among the causes she promoted were gun control and abolishing the death penalty.
Barbara Flynn was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, the daughter of Francis and Elsie Flynn. When she was 7, her family moved to the South Side, where she attended St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School and the University of Chicago Lab High School. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father taught social work at the University of Chicago, where she studied before dropping out to marry David Park Currie in 1960. Eventually she returned and received her bachelor’s degree in 1968 and master’s degree in 1973, both in political science.
She worked as vice president for the Chicago League of Women Voters from 1965 to 1969. Later, she taught government at DePaul University and was an assistant study director at the National Opinion Research Center.
Currie was elected to the Illinois General Assembly’s 24th District in 1978; her district changed to the 26th District in 1983 and the 25th in 1993.
“Barbara Currie has tackled many, many complex issues with a keen intellect, fairness and balance,” Madigan said when she announced her retirement in 2017, opting to not seek reelection in 2018.
Her husband, a revered legal scholar and teacher, died in 2007.
Survivors include two children, Stephen and Margaret, and four grandchildren.
