Carol Coe, former Kansas City councilwoman and civil rights activist, dies at 74
Carol Coe, who previously represented Kansas City’s Third District on City Council, died Sunday morning, her family said. She was 74.
An attorney and civil rights activist, Coe served on the City Council from 1991 to 1995. She was on the Finance Committee and the Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, according to city records.
Ailey Pope, Coe’s daughter, said her mother touched people in every space she walked in, from her local Family Dollar to City Hall. Born in Houston, Coe spent most of her life in Kansas City, which she loved dearly, Pope said.
“Even after she finished serving, she spent her time working in the community,” said Pope, who called her mother a “beacon of light.”
Kansas City attorney Clinton Adams, who was classmates with Coe at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, remembered Coe as a strong advocate for the Third District. She fought to make sure institutions like the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum remained in the district, he said.
“She was a fierce warrior,” he told The Star. “She spoke truth to power.”
In a post on Twitter, Mayor Quinton Lucas said Coe, who was also a former member of the Jackson County Legislature, was “devoted to improving life for all Kansas Citians.”
“She served us all well,” Lucas said. “I will miss her greatly and grieve alongside her family and many friends.”
Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, 3rd District, on Twitter called Coe a fierce advocate and an “intellectual giant.”
“You finished your race and fought a good fight,” Robinson wrote. “We will work to take the baton and continue course.”
When people told Robinson she could not run for office because she had two small children, she looked to Coe as an example and did, she wrote.
In October, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring that the bridge near East 19th and Vine streets be named the “Carol Coe Bridge of Opportunity.” The resolution called her a “Kansas City icon until this day.”
“Carol Coe has been and continues to be an inspiration for African Americans, especially young women who aspire to be advocates in the community and she has a proven record of promoting economic development, job creation, housing and neighborhood improvement and betterment of basic City services,” according to the resolution.
Pope said her mother was honored by the recognition.
“I can’t wait to ride over that bridge,” Coe’s daughter recalled her saying.
Cole also established and was the director of Green Acres, an urban farming project, and she was involved in Freedom Inc., an influential Black political and civil rights organization.
“Carol Coe was a good friend and always dedicated to the work at hand,” Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt said in a statement Monday. “One time when I asked her what I could do to help her, she said, ‘I’d like a tractor.’ The need for a tractor was part of Carol’s urban agriculture project and before long she had one. Abby and I join her family and the Kansas City community in mourning her loss.”
The president of Freedom Inc., Rodney Bland, said Coe had a strategic legal mind. He described her as a “protector of people who had less.” On the City Council, she fought hard for small and Black-owned businesses, he said.
“She was a strong advocate for churches, a strong advocate for neighborhoods,” Bland said. “She was tenacious in everything she did.”
Coe leaves behind four children and nine grandchildren, her daughter said.
This story was originally published February 14, 2021 at 9:28 PM.
