Nadine P. Winter
*Nadine Winter was born on this date in 1924. She was a Black community activist and politician.
Nadine P. Winter was born Nadine Kinnion Poole in New Bern, North Carolina. She was one of five children of a brick mason and a high-school dietician. At an early age, she was a community activist and helped to found Winston-Salem's first Girl Scout troop for Black girls.
After graduating from Atkins High School in Winston-Salem, she attended the Hampton Institute and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree after transferring to Brooklyn College. While living in Brooklyn, she founded a store-front community service agency and worked nights to complete her education. After moving to Washington, D.C., in 1947, Winter graduated from Cortez Peters Business School and later received a Master of Arts degree from Federal City College (now the University of the District of Columbia).
Soon, Winter began to fulfill a social action and service role in the city. She was the founder and executive director of D.C.'s Hospitality House, Inc., day care for youth and a temporary homeless shelter. In addition, she was an original organizer of the National Welfare Rights Organization. Winter had two sons. Winter's husband, Reginald C. Winter Sr., died in 1973. Winter was elected as one of the original members of the Council of the District of Columbia in 1974 when D.C. gained home rule. She represented Ward 6 on the council from 1975 to 1991.
Following a 1989 judicial injunction declaring that city homeless shelters were in violation of the district's Right to Overnight Shelter Act law and were "virtual hell-holes," Winter introduced an amendment limiting shelter use to 10 days every six months, stating, "We have done what we can to make them human beings." Winter was a presidential elector in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. Nadine Winter died of pneumonia in her home in Southwest Washington, D.C., on August 26, 2011.
