10/02/2025
Norwich, GB 5 C
Researching and reporting on the lives of some really interesting people (RIP)

ZANDRA FLEMISTER, aged 71

SECRET SERVICE PIONEER

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Zandra’s father was a sergeant in the US Army and her mother worked for the U.S. High Commission as a microfilm technician.

The family were transferred to France, so Zandra went to a French pre-school. Her parents split up when she was just five and her mother took Zandra to Connecticut, where she spent her formative years. She enjoyed ballet lessons and learned to play the piano.

Zandra’s mother then moved to a white suburb in Hartford. They suffered extreme racial abuse from their neighbours including constant threats and being woken throughout the night. Zandra remembered having to have, “A wealth of perseverance”, to enable her break into social circles.

Zandra was taken to Civil Rights marches. She was present at the famous Washington March in 1963 where Martin Luther King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

After leaving school, Zandra got a BA degree in political science from Northeastern University. This involved visits to the Soviet Union and Mexico.

She got a job as a buyer for a department store, but then went to a recruitment fair. Zandra was impressed by a speaker from the Secret Service and so she applied (and was accepted) for a position with them.

Secret Service (courtesy The Grio)

However, the Secret Service in the USA was slow to accept change. It had been nearly one hundred years old when it appointed the first black agent, Charles L. Gittens in 1956.

Charles L Gittens (courtesy Secret Service)

It took another 15 years before the first woman agent was appointed (1971) and another three before Zandra was given a job (1974), as the first black female Secret Service employee. She had no idea that she was a pioneer.

From day one, she suffered extreme racism from other agents and her supervisors. The n*****  word was used frequently in front of her. Once, she walked into a room full of other agents and one of them shouted, “Whose prisoner is this?”  She said that she was embarrassed and humiliated.

An agent stole her ID card and stuck a photo of a gorilla on her picture, leaving it on her chair.

Zandra was usually given the worst jobs, often operating under cover.

She was told by a supervisor that she would never get promotion with an Afro haircut. Zandra changed it – and was still denied that promotion.

Her boss told her that she was not, “Allowed to have a successful career in the Secret Service”. Every time she tried to get promotion, her credibility or competence was questioned.

Zandra at work, on the right (courtesy Wikipedia)

Nevertheless, Zandra was satisfied with a couple of her responsibilities. Firstly, she had to guard Susan, the daughter of President Gerald Ford.

Zandra was proud about her own, “Skill at safeguarding Susan during her dates, without being obtrusive”.

During the 1976 presidential election, Zandra was involved in a serious car crash and suffered severe concussion. Her injuries led to a series of five operations.

When she returned to work, Gerald Ford had lost power.

Ford’s successor as President was Jimmy Carter. He too, had a daughter, called Amy. Zandra became her ‘protector’- the second role she was proud of.

Amy went to Thaddeus Stevens public elementary school. Zandra used to sit quietly at the back of every one of the girl’s lessons.

Amy Carter (courtesy Casa AC)

Zandra was appalled at the behaviour when the Secret Service provided protection for the presidents of Senegal and Grenada respectively, on state visits. Behind the scenes the racism was insufferable.

She complained to her superiors – and nothing was done.

For a while, a disillusioned Zandra kept going. “I remained in the Secret Service because I wanted to be a trailblazer for other African American women”.

By 1978, it proved too much for her. Zandra resigned from the Secret Service and joined the Foreign Service, taking a pay cut in the process.

Retired (courtesy Northeastern University)

Zandra loved her new position and immersed herself in the culture of the various countries she was posted to. These included Argentina, Spain and later on, the UK.

In 1981, Zandra married another Foreign Service employee, John Collinge, who was based in Khartoum (where they were wed). They were to have one son, Samuel, who was later diagnosed as autistic.

From then on, Zandra became an active advocate for autistic children.

She then moved to Washington DC to work for the State Department, liaising with the FBI Terrorist Screening Centre.

Zandra (courtesy TheGrio)

Meanwhile, John joined the CIA.

Both John and Zandra were posted to the UK and were based in London. At the end of their tour, they were given the choice of attending Royal Ascot or the Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Zandra chose the latter and had great fun choosing a striking outfit (with hat). She was tall and very elegant.

In the year 2000, a lawsuit was started against the Secret Service by Ray Moore, an agent for 32 years. He had protected eight Presidents but had made over 200 applications for promotion without success. He had always been denied this because of the colour of his skin. Another hundred former agents joined the lawsuit.

Zandra was not a plaintiff but gave evidence at some of the hearings.

A Washington Post investigation the following year, showed  there were absolutely no black women that reached retirement age in the US Secret Service.

After 9/11, Zandra was posted to Pakistan, where she became Consul. She was based in Islamabad and absolutely loved it. Nevertheless, it was a highly dangerous posting – there were many terrorist attacks on westerners.

In 2003, Zandra got her master’s degree in National Security Logistics from the National Defence University.

Zandra was still based in Pakistan in 2005 when there was a massive earthquake in the north of the country, which killed 80,000 people. She was charged with tracking down each and every American citizen in the country – a monumental task.

Pakistan Earthquake (courtesy Dawn)

Not long afterwards, Zandra started to make spelling mistakes, something she had always been meticulous about. Then she began forgetting things.

Zandra in Havana 2007 (courtesy her husband)

On a family holiday to Seattle, Zandra became extremely distressed when she didn’t recognise anywhere.

She immediately went to a doctor and was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Very quickly, Zandra realised she could not cope with the technical and legal elements of her job any more. She took early retirement in 2011, aged just 59.

She also had to withdraw her evidence from the lawsuit against the Secret Service.

In 2017, right at the end of the Obama administration, the Secret Service settled the lawsuit (after 17 years), paying $24 million to the claimants. There was no apology, no admittance of wrong-doing or any recognition of institutional bias.

Ray Moore with Vice President Joe Biden (courtesy Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Zandra could not celebrate the ‘victory’ as by now, her Alzheimer’s had developed too far.

With her grandchild (courtesy NPR)

Then it was downhill all the way for Zandra. She died in a Maryland care home.

Her husband John has become a campaigner for Alzheimers research and care.

Kimberly Cheatle, the current Director of the Secret Service said, “She was a trailblazer who dedicated her life to service and inspired a future generation of agents”.

Through the ages (courtesy Reddit)

Ray Moore said, “She should get more recognition. Her story needs to be told so that young people, especially young black females can aspire to be the next Zandra Flemister”.

RIPP – Racism Is Prominent (and) Persistent

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