{{Short description|American guidance counselor and presidential candidate (1966–2003)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Angel Joy Chavis Rocker | image = | caption = Rocker in 1999 | birth_name = Angel Joy Chavis Rocker | birth_date = {{birth date|1966|4|29}} | death_place = Navarre Beach, Florida, United States | death_date = {{death date and age|2003|2|25| 1966|4|29}} | education = {{ubl|University of North Carolina at Greensboro|Georgia State University}} | political_party = Republican }}
'''Angel Joy Chavis Rocker''' (April 29, 1966 – February 26, 2003) was an American politician and guidance counselor from Florida. In 1999, she became the first black woman to run for President of the United States as a Republican.
== Early life and education== Rocker grew up in High Point, North Carolina, and graduated from T. Wingate Andrews High School. Rocker attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received a master's degree in counseling from Georgia State University.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Alabama Republican Straw Poll {{!}} C-SPAN.org |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?151825-1/alabama-republican-straw-poll |access-date=March 6, 2022 |website=www.c-span.org}}</ref>
==Career== Rocker worked as a guidance counselor and lived in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. On March 23, 1999, she announced that she would be forming a presidential exploratory committee, hoping to receive the Republican nomination in the 2000 United States Presidential election.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Florida woman may seek presidency|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1999-03-24-9903240069-story.html|first=Michael|last=Griffin|date=March 24, 1999 |access-date=March 6, 2022 |website=Orlando Sentinel |language=en}}</ref>
With this announcement, she became the first black woman to run for President of the United States as a Republican.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Paving The Way: 10 Black Women Who Ran For President Before Kamala Harris |url=https://newyork.binnews.com/content/2021-02-09-paving-the-way-10-black-women-who-ran-for-president-before-kamala-harris/ |access-date=March 6, 2022 |website=New York's BIN 1600 |language=en |date=February 9, 2021}}</ref> Rocker's campaign was seen as a long shot as she had very little campaign funding, name recognition, and no political experience, as she had not previously held elected office.<ref>{{Cite web |title=White House bid wants attention |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1999/03/24/white-house-bid-wants-attention/ |access-date=March 6, 2022 |website=St. Petersburg Times|date=March 24, 1999 |language=en}}</ref> Aspects of her platform included the creation of a flat tax,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surely, you know the name of one Black woman who ran for president. What about the other 10? |url=https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/2/4/2013760/-Surely-you-know-the-name-of-one-Black-woman-who-ran-for-president-What-about-the-other-10 |access-date=March 6, 2022 |website=Daily Kos|date=February 4, 2021}}</ref> expanding medical care,<ref name=":1" /> and encouraging black influence and representation within the Republican party.<ref name=":0" />
She said she wanted to test whether the Republicans were a "big tent or not".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nittle |first=Nadra Kareem |title=Black Women Who Have Run for President |url=https://www.history.com/news/black-women-president-candidates |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=HISTORY |date=February 10, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> At the 1999 Alabama Republican Straw Poll, she said that she declared her candidacy to "articulate issues that attract Hispanics, African Americans, and other minorities" to the Republican party and that it is important to "articulate these issues in a positive rather than a negative manner", stating that her campaign was about inclusion within the party.<ref name=":2" /> George W. Bush would eventually go on to win the 2000 Republican primary and the general election against Al Gore.
Rocker died on February 25, 2003, in Navarre Beach, Florida, at the age of 36 following an elective surgery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obituaries |url=https://greensboro.com/obituaries/article_d0a0ab1f-54c8-53a6-9f47-7889c2718921.html |access-date=March 6, 2022 |website=Greensboro News and Record |date=March 3, 2003 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== *Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman candidate for a major party's nomination, running as a Democrat
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{C-SPAN|80862}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocker, Angel Joy Chavis}} Category:1966 births Category:Black conservatism in the United States Category:African-American Christians Category:21st-century African-American women politicians Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century African-American politicians Category:20th-century African-American women politicians Category:20th-century African-American politicians Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:Candidates in the 2000 United States presidential election Category:2003 deaths Category:Female candidates for President of the United States Category:African-American candidates for President of the United States Category:Florida Republicans Category:Women in Florida politics Category:People from High Point, North Carolina Category:North Carolina Republicans Category:Georgia State University alumni Category:University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni