Desmond Meade
| Desmond Meade | |
| Nationality | American |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Civil rights leader, author |
| Known for | Leading Florida's Amendment 4 voting rights campaign |
| Education | Miami-Dade College (A.S., B.S.); Florida International University (J.D.) |
Desmond Meade (born July 22, 1967) is an American civil rights leader who led the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) as president and executive director, building the organization behind Amendment 4, the 2018 Florida ballot initiative that restored voting rights to roughly 1.4 million Floridians with past felony convictions.[1][2] A returning citizen who overcame addiction, homelessness, and incarceration, he led what has been described as the largest expansion of voting rights in the United States in half a century.[2][3]
Meade was named to the TIME 100 in 2019 and received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.[1][2] Under his leadership the FRRC was nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.[4] He is the author of the memoir Let My People Vote (2020).[1]
Early life and education
Meade was born on July 22, 1967, in St. Croix, and moved to Miami with his parents at age five; his mother worked as a waitress and his father as a mechanic.[1] After graduating from high school in 1985, he joined the United States Army as a helicopter mechanic.[1] He developed a cocaine addiction during his military service, and in 1990 he was court-martialed for stealing from his base, receiving a three-year sentence and a dishonorable discharge.[1] He later accumulated civilian convictions for felony drug possession and aggravated battery, and in 2001 he was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to fifteen years in prison; the conviction was reversed on appeal in 2004.[1]
In 2005, after a period in which he considered suicide, Meade entered drug treatment and lived in a homeless shelter while attending college.[1] He earned associate and bachelor's degrees from Miami-Dade College, graduating in 2010 with the school's highest honors, and went on to earn a J.D. from the Florida International University College of Law.[2][1] Florida law barred him from admission to the Florida Bar because of his felony record.[1]
Career
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
Meade became head of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition in 2009 and built it into a politically non-partisan organization committed to ending the disenfranchisement and discrimination of people with convictions.[1][3] The MacArthur Foundation, in awarding him a 2021 Fellowship, noted that he had served as the coalition's president and executive director since 2010.[2] The coalition now describes him as its founder as he transitions from executive leadership.[3] From 2012 to 2016 he also served as state director of the Live Free Campaign of Faith in Action (formerly PICO Florida).[2]
Amendment 4
As chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, Meade led the petition drive that gathered roughly 799,000 signatures to place the Voting Rights Restoration Amendment on the 2018 ballot.[1] The measure, known as Amendment 4, passed on November 6, 2018, with 64.55 percent of the vote, and on January 8, 2019, about 1.4 million returning citizens became eligible to vote.[1][2] The MacArthur Foundation described it as the largest expansion of voting rights in the United States in the previous fifty years.[2]
After the Florida legislature enacted SB 7066, which required returning citizens to pay conviction-related fines and fees before registering to vote, the FRRC under Meade raised more than $28 million and paid the obligations of over 44,000 returning citizens ahead of the 2020 election.[1]
Recognition
Meade was named to the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people in 2019, the same year Fast Company listed him among its 100 Most Creative People and the Orlando Sentinel named him Central Floridian of the Year.[1] He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021,[2] and he has been inducted into the Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame and awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Bard College.[1]
In February 2023, the American Friends Service Committee and Quaker Peace and Social Witness nominated the FRRC for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing its work in building democracy and supporting the human right to representation by government; the coalition described the nomination as the first received by an organization led by people impacted by the criminal justice system.[4]
Let My People Vote
Meade's autobiography, Let My People Vote: My Battle to Restore the Civil Rights of Returning Citizens, was published by Beacon Press in 2020.[1] He co-hosts the OUR VOICE podcast with Neil Volz, a production of the FRRC.[3]
Personal life
Meade lives in Orlando, Florida.[1] He married labor activist Sheena Meade in December 2012 and is the adoptive father of five children.[1]
Related biographies
- Maxwell Frost — Politician
- Amy K. Nelson — Lawyer
- Louis L. Reed — Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
- Adam Bentley Clausen — Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
- Pamela Winn — Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
- Dickie Scruggs — Trial Lawyer & Second-Chance Advocate
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 "Desmond Meade". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Desmond Meade — MacArthur Fellow". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Florida Rights Restoration Coalition". Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize". Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Retrieved 2026-09-29.