CONYERS, LONGEST SERVING BLACK CONGRESSMAN, DIES

DETROIT — Former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, one of the longest-serving members of Congress whose resolutely liberal stance on civil rights made him a political institution despite several scandals, died Sunday at age 90. Conyers, toppled by sex harassment allegations in 2017, died at his home, Detroit police spokesman Cpl. Dan Donakowski said, adding that the death “looks like natural causes.”

Known as dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, which he helped found, Conyers became one of only six black House members when he won his first election in 1964 — beginning more than 50 years of election dominance. He regularly won with more than 80% of the vote, even after his wife went to prison for taking a bribe. Voter loyalty helped Conyers freely speak his mind. He took aim at both Republicans and fellow Democrats: in 1979 he called then-President Jimmy Carter “a hopeless, demented, honest, well-intentioned nerd who will never get past his first administration.”

Throughout his career, Conyers used his influence to push civil rights. After a 15-year fight, he won passage of legislation declaring the

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday, first celebrated in 1986. He regularly introduced a bill starting in 1989 to study the harm caused by slavery and the possibility of reparations for descendants. That bill never got past a House subcommittee.

His district office in Detroit employed civil rights legend Rosa Parks from 1965 until her retirement in 1988. In 2005, Conyers was among 11 people inducted to the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. But after a nearly 53-year career, he became the first Capitol Hill politician to lose his job in the 2017 torrent of sexual misconduct allegations sweeping through the nation’s workplaces. A former staffer alleged she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances, and others said they’d witnessed Conyers inappropriately touching female staffers or requesting sexual favors. He denied the allegations but eventually stepped down, citing health reasons.

Conyers was born and raised in Detroit. His political aspirations were honed while working from 1958 to 1961 as an assistant to Rep. John Dingell, a fellow Michigan Democrat who, when he retired in 2014 at age 88, was Congress’ longest-serving member. That mantle then passed to Conyers.

NEW YORK TIMES 2007 Former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., became one of only six black House members when he won his first election in 1964.