Marianne C. Spraggins: The Courage of Being the Only New York State Superdelegate for Obama

Marianne Camille Spraggins has more class than you can shake a stick at. And besides that, a bunch of degrees, including Harvard, New York Law School and Boston University.

I think she's got some money also, but that's maybe getting too personal.

The point here is that out of the three dozen or so superdelegates in New York State, Marianne C. Spraggins is the only one who has committed herself to Barack Obama.

The vast majority of the others, of course, are for Hillary Clinton and three are undecided.

Spraggins, an admitted fashion fiend, grew up in Harlem, the daughter of a lawyer, and she made an outstanding career for herself in the investment field, acknowledged as one of the most successful and enterprising women in the financial field.

Twenty years ago, Spraggins was one of the early supporters of David Dinkins in his bid to become the first black mayor of New York City.

Dinkins, who in fact did become the first black mayor, is now a superdelegate committed to Clinton.

In a Newsday article in 1990, Spraggins pointed out that her early support for Dave Dinkins was a big risk, since few assumed he would win the election at that point.

"If David Dinkins hadn't won the election," she said, "I would have been that stupid Marianne Spraggins, why did she put herself out there?"

Now, here she is again, out front with a candidate that few New York Democratic bigshots are willing to support.

But the fact is that many others in the nation believe she will be proven right again.

(Here's a straight bio sketch of Spraggins, put together last year by Essence for a leadership forum it had sponsored.)

Comments

[Ron]

i'm pleased that the post helped you in your research. it's a really beautiful name. i know you're proud.

Ron

[Andrea E. Spraggins]

I have been doing some research on my last name and was very proud when I came across this article. I know how driven I am in my career and in any endeavor I tackle, and it's good to know that this may be a Spraggins trait because I've read GREAT things about those with the sir name.