Juanita W. Goggins was the first African-American woman elected to the South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 legislature. She was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives

South Carolina House of Representatives

The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...

 in 1974, and served three terms before resigning for health reasons in 1980.

A former teacher and the wife of a dentist, Goggins was also the first black woman to represent the state of South Carolina at the Democratic National Convention

Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...

 in 1972, and the first black woman to serve on the United States Civil Rights Commission.

Among her accomplishments were securing funding sickle-cell anemia testing in county health departments, and helping pass a 1977 law that was still the basis for education funding in South Carolina at the time of her death. AP wrote: "Her proposals to expand kindergarten and to reduce student-teacher ratios in the primary grades were adopted after she left politics in 1980, citing health issues."

After leaving the legislature, Goggins divorced and moved to Columbia

Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...

, where she was a state social worker for a time. In 2009, part of Highway 5 in Rock Hill, South Carolina

Rock Hill, South Carolina

Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fourth-largest city in the state. It is also the third-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte and Concord, North Carolina. The population was 71,459 as of . Rock Hill has undergone rapid growth between...

 was named in her honor.

She died in February 2010 of hypothermia

Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...

, freezing to death in her own home. Neighbors, who later contacted Goggins' landlord, became concerned about her after lights in Goggins' home had not come on for some time. The coroner stated that he had found indications she had suffered from dementia

Dementia

Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...

.