A Nation Of Dilla Freeman Burts

5:28 pm EST October 15th, 2008 | News | 8 Comments

Unstoppable.


A month after her 100th birthday, Dilla Freeman Burt cast the first vote of her long life — for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

It’s the excitement surrounding these elections — a woman running for vice president and a black man running for president — that prompted Burt to action, said her daughter, Phyllis Burt.

‘I was feeding her ice cream when she decided she wanted to vote,’ Phyllis Burt said. ‘I almost fell out of my chair. I was floored that after all these years of the family pestering her about voting that she’d decided to do it.’

Burt registered to vote earlier this month in Davidson County.

Davidson County Election Commission workers visited nursing homes Thursday to collect ballots from older voters who can’t get around or need help voting. A nurse took Dilla Burt in a wheelchair to the Bordeaux Long-Term Care lobby, where an election worker asked her whom she wanted to vote for. She gave her answer loud enough for witnesses to hear, and the worker marked the ballot.

On Thursday night, a nurse slowly fed a frail Burt chicken and mashed potatoes from a tray.

‘Mom, who did you vote for?’ Phyllis Burt asked.

‘Obama,’ her mother quietly replied.

Thanks to S.M. for sending this one in.

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8 Responses to “A Nation Of Dilla Freeman Burts”

  1. Bijan C. Bayne says:
    October 15, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    When moms first saw the light of day, W.E.B. DuBois was forecasting that the problem of the 20th century would be that of the color line.

    A century later, and Governor Sarah Palin demonstrates it is still divisive.

  2. PG says:
    October 15, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    Thanks for sharing that.

  3. bryan says:
    October 15, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    WTF kept her?
    I remember when my dad used to help getting people to the polling station. I heard one 80 year old woman saying how she always voted because she could remember when she wasn’t allowed to. (This was 20 years ago).

  4. Parthenon says:
    October 15, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Have we cross-checked COINTELPRO’s ACORN database? Is she an agent?

    Seriously though, awesome story.

  5. Dennis says:
    October 15, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    That is a good story.

  6. Vanessa says:
    October 15, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    That is an awesome story.

    William, you’re an asshat.

  7. Octavious Butler says:
    October 15, 2008 at 10:36 pm

    Praise God, My sister lives in that neighborhood. I am so happy the this woman lived to see this moment. Hopefully, this will spawn many more achievements from our brothers and sisters in the struggle.

  8. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle says:
    October 15, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    Great story. I hope there are a lot more like her out there. I went to an Obama meeting tonight and it was great. No vote will be left out there. If someone needs a ride to the polls they’ll get one.