Mary L. Fonseca

She was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, the daughter of Mary Botelho and José Leite, both Portuguese immigrants. Her father owned a small grocery store on the corner of Webster and Alden Streets.[1] After graduating from Durfee High School in 1932, she wanted to go to college but, as she explained in an interview, "as the oldest girl in a family of 12, I had to go right to work." She worked at the Fall River Public Library, and later as a secretary for the U.S. Census Bureau.[2]

She first became interested in politics as a teenager, when she accompanied her mother to meetings of the Portuguese-American Civic League. Soon she began taking part in the League's fundraising drives, and organized a Junior Council for young members.[1]

She was elected to the Fall River School Committee in 1945 and served two four-year terms. During her last year on the committee she served as vice chairman.[3] Concerned about rising unemployment in her area, she successfully ran for state senate in 1952, running a low-budget campaign out of her family's modest third-floor apartment.[4] She was the first woman to represent the Second Bristol District in the senate,[4] the first Portuguese-American woman elected to the Massachusetts Senate,[5] and possibly the first Portuguese-American woman to be elected to any legislative seat in the United States.[1] As Assistant Majority Leader (or Majority Whip)[6] from 1973 to 1984, she was also the first woman to hold a leadership post in the Massachusetts senate.[2]

Fonseca earned a reputation as a champion of women and public education. In her "maiden speech" on the senate floor, she argued in support of a bill ending discrimination against married women teachers:

There are only two bachelors and three women in the Massachusetts State Senate. That means out of 40 senators, 35 of you are going to have to make a determination before we leave here today as to whether or not your wives became less competent the day they married you. When a male teacher gets married, his pay is not lowered, nor are his annual leave and pension rights taken from him, yet there is a double standard where women are concerned. Why?[1]

After having been voted down repeatedly for years, the bill finally passed.[1] Fonseca went on to chair the Senate Committee on Education, and was a strong supporter of Southeastern Massachusetts University (now the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth) and Bristol Community College in Fall River.[6] In 1974 she successfully argued in favor of tax deductions for working mothers' daycare expenses.[2]

She married John C. Fonseca Jr., an insurance company employee, in 1948.[1] The couple had two children, John and Irene. Her husband died in 1970.[2]

She was active in many civic and charitable organizations, including the Business and Professional Women's Foundation, the National Order of Women Legislators, the Portuguese-American Civic League, the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary, and the Holy Name Women.[3]

Towards the end of her life Fonseca suffered from Alzheimer's disease. She died of a heart attack in the County Gardens Nursing Home in Swansea, Massachusetts.[2] Mary L. Fonseca Elementary School in Fall River is named in her honor.[5]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary L. Fonseca.

• "Top 20 Women Who Have Served in the Massachusetts Legislature, Part 2". The Progressive Democrat. April 8, 2014.
• Mary L. Fonseca in libraries (WorldCat catalog)