Adrienne Perry was elected to the Longwood city commission in 1989, winning her district with 77% of the vote. She served a second term, running unopposed in 1991. After the start of her second term, she was elected mayor by fellow commissioners in November 1991. She served Longwood with distinction during her two terms, in an era of a series of blunders and scandals in the small town.
Perry was born in Harlem in 1943. She moved to Seminole County with her husband, Justice James E. C. Perry, in 1975. The couple still lives in the Rangeline Road house they built in 1978, which she remembered as being in the country. Her home was one of the first to be built after the Stum family sold the citrus groves.
Perry earned a doctorate in education from the University of Florida, with her master’s degree from Columbia University. She was a long-time teacher, education advocate, and director of student education at Stetson University. Her husband was an attorney and later became a judge, eventually rising to the Florida Supreme Court in 2009.
With her election in 1989, Dr. Perry was only the second elected black official in Seminole County. She was the first black mayor in Seminole County. She resigned from the city commission in 1992, when she was convinced to run for Congress. Dr. Perry lost a close race for the Democratic primary in 1992, but won the Seminole County vote. She won the Democratic primary for County Commission in 1994, but she lost in the general election.
Adrienne’s election from a town with very few African Americans within its city limits is quite remarkable, with the town being 98% white at the time. The margin of victory was impressive, even considering her opponent was caught up in a scandal of Sunshine Law violations at the time. Adrienne noted that she heeded advice not to include her photo with campaign materials; however, the newspaper exposed her blackness anyway. She stated that people were surprised, but thankfully, voters rallied behind her in a landslide victory.
In 1990, the mayor of Longwood, a white man, was arrested for drunk driving. Upon his arrest by a black officer, he made some comments toward the officer (which were caught on videotape) that were racist in tone. His fellow councilmen showed the tape at a meeting and unanimously asked him to resign–he declined.
In many ways, the city commission’s vote to elect Adrienne as mayor (3-1) in 1991 was a statement. The time had come to turn the page, and racism was not to be accepted in Longwood any longer. That’s not to say it completely went away. But it was a solid start!
Listen to her story in her own words: