Equity: The Longest-Serving Woman In The General Assembly

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Maureen Foertsch McKinney

Published March 7, 2016 at 11:52 AM CST

State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie is the longest-serving woman in the Illinois General Assembly, having been inaugurated in 1979. The Democrat from Chicago was working on a sociology project at the University of Chicago when she was encouraged to run for the state House. Maureen McKinney interviewed Currie because March is Women’s History Month.

We will also post McKinney’s interview with Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, the longest serving Republican women in the General Assembly.

Equity & Justice

Maureen Foertsch McKinney

Maureen Foertsch McKinney is news editor and equity and justice beat reporter for NPR Illinois, where she has been on the staff since 2014 after Illinois Issues magazine’s merger with the station. She joined the magazine’s staff in 1998 as projects editor and became managing editor in 2003. Prior to coming to the University of Illinois Springfield, she was an education reporter and copy editor at three local newspapers, including the suburban Chicago Daily Herald, She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Eastern Illinois University and a master’s degree in English from UIS.

See stories by Maureen Foertsch McKinney