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Dame Doris Sands Johnson DBE (19 June 1921 – 21 June 1983) was a Bahamian teacher, suffragette, and politician. She was the first Bahamian woman to contest an election in the Bahamas, the first female Senate appointee, and the first woman granted a leadership role in the Senate. Once in the legislature, she was the first woman to be made a government minister and then was elected as the first woman President of the Senate. She was the first woman to serve as Acting Governor General of the Bahamas, and was honored as Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Born on New Providence Island, she completed her secondary education and became a teacher. After teaching for 17 years, Johnson returned to school to earn a master's and doctorate degree in educational administration. During this period, she traveled back and forth between school and her Bahamian home organizing labor and suffrage efforts. Upon graduation, Johnson was unable to find work because of her activism. She made a compelling speech to the Bahamian legislature in 1959, pleading for women's suffrage and subsequently made a similar plea to the Colonial Office in London. Once the right to vote had been secured, Johnson immediately entered politics in 1961, running in the first election in which women were allowed to participate. Though she lost her bid, she worked with the Progressive Liberal Party to gain Bahamian independence. When the country gained its freedom from colonial rule, Johnson was appointed to the Senate and served the government until her death, a decade later.
