Estella B. Diggs

Estella B. Diggs (April 21, 1916 – April 18, 2013) was an American businesswoman, writer and politician from New York.

Life

She was born on April 21, 1916, in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended Pace College, City College of New York and New York University. She was in the real estate and catering businesses and was a career counselor. She was also a writer.^[1]

Estella Diggs was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1973 to 1980, sitting in the 180th, 181st, 182nd and 183rd New York State Legislatures. She represented the Morrisania section of the Bronx. She helped write more than 70 bills and was responsible for the first Women's, Infants, and Children's program in the state and the first sobering-up station in the Bronx.^[2] On November 7, 2011, Estella Diggs Park was dedicated in the Morrisania neighborhood.^[3]

She died in 2013, two days before her 97th birthday, in a hospital in the Bronx.^[2]

References

1. ↑ Who's Who Among African Americans (2009), Biographical Sketch of Estella Diggs
2. 1 2 Diggs obit with brief profile
3. ↑ Beekman, Daniel “New pocket park in Morrisania named for first Bronx African-American Assemblywoman Estella Diggs” New York Daily News 11/7/2011