Longtime D.C. librarian celebrates 100th birthday, scheduled to vote by mail

WASHINGTON (WJLA) — On Saturday, Lottie Mae Thomas Wright celebrated her 100th birthday.

Her children and grandchildren joined a zoom conference to shower her with love.

Wright, who has seven sons, has seen a lot in her lifetime.

She was born on October 10, 1920, in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

She overcame many obstacles, even after losing a leg and an arm at eight years old, in a train accident at a rail yard.

“She lost her left arm and left leg, just below the joint,” said her son Carl Jeffrey Wright.

But despite the challenges, she dedicated her life to helping her community.

“It’s incredible to know that for someone who is born in 1920, at the height of Jim Crow America, someone who lived through World War II... and still be able to bring a smile and some joy...it’s just an incredible, incredible experience,” Carl Wright said.

Lottie Wright served as a D.C. librarian for 20 years, and she used her voice when needed.

“What we know is that that there have been 20 presidential elections, since she was old enough to vote in the forties,” Carl Wright said.

Since then, she rarely missed the opportunity to vote in an election.

“Because she was a politically active person,” Carl said. “She remembers and lived in Washington, D.C. when there was no Home Rule."

Amid the pandemic, she’s voting by mail in 2020.

“I would like to see someone be the President of the United States, who is a good person (not just in religion) but in understanding of the kind of people that God would have on his earth,” said Lottie Wright.

As the wife of a conference clerk at the Supreme Court, she always stressed the importance of civic responsibility and the privilege that should be appreciated at any age.

“She stood for and lived out what’s possible and particularly for African American women, girls and all women of color,” said Carl.