(Reuters) -U.S. Consultant Sheila Jackson Lee, a powerful progressive voice within the Democratic Celebration who was outspoken on African-American and ladies’s rights, has died, her household posted on X late on Friday.

Jackson Lee of Texas introduced final month she had pancreatic most cancers and was present process therapy. She was 74, in accordance with U.S. media.

“The road ahead will not be easy, but I stand in faith that God will strengthen me,” she stated in asserting the analysis.

“A fierce champion of the people, she was affectionately and simply known as ‘Congresswoman’ by her constituents in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and service to their daily lives for more than 30 years,” her household stated within the assertion.

She was energetic all through her profession in selling laws aimed toward addressing social justice, financial inequality and public well being issues.

Jackson Lee, who represented components of Houston, launched a laws within the Home of Representatives to make “Juneteenth” a federal vacation commemorating the top of the authorized enslavement of Black People.

The vacation marks the day in 1865 when a Union common knowledgeable a gaggle of enslaved individuals in Texas that that they had been made free two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation throughout the Civil Struggle.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a conservative Republican, posted on X that his spouse “Cecilia and I’ll without end bear in mind Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

“She was a proud Texan and a tireless advocate for the people of Houston. Her legacy of public service and dedication to Texas will live on,” Abbott stated.

Jackson Lee served on a number of Home committees, together with judiciary, homeland safety and price range.