[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 161 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 161

   Honoring the life of Oliver White Hill, a pioneer in the field of 
   American civil rights law, on the occasion of his 100th birthday.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2007

     Mr. Webb (for himself and Mr. Warner) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Honoring the life of Oliver White Hill, a pioneer in the field of 
   American civil rights law, on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

Whereas Oliver White Hill was born on May 1, 1907, in Richmond, Virginia, moved 
        with his family to Roanoke, Virginia, and graduated from Dunbar High 
        School in Washington, DC;
Whereas Mr. Hill earned his undergraduate degree from Howard University and 
        received a law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1933, 
        graduating second in his class behind valedictorian and future Supreme 
        Court Justice Thurgood Marshall;
Whereas, in 1934, Mr. Hill became a member of the Virginia Bar and began his law 
        practice in Roanoke, Virginia, and continued in Richmond, Virginia, in 
        1939, leading the Virginia legal team of the National Association for 
        the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1940 to 1961 and serving 
        as one of the principal attorneys on the historic Brown v. Board of 
        Education case in 1954;
Whereas Mr. Hill interrupted his law practice to serve in the United States 
        Armed Forces from 1943 to 1945, and was later appointed by President 
        Harry S Truman to a committee to study racism in the United States;
Whereas, in 1948, Mr. Hill became the first African-American elected to the 
        Richmond, Virginia, City Council since Reconstruction, and later served 
        in appointed capacities with the Federal Housing Administration and the 
        then-newly-created Department of Housing and Urban Development;
Whereas Mr. Hill served as legal counsel in many of the Nation's most important 
        civil rights cases concerning equal opportunity in education, 
        employment, housing, transportation, and the justice system;
Whereas Mr. Hill has remained actively engaged with civic enterprises at the 
        community, State, national, and international levels, and earned 
        numerous accolades and awards, including the Presidential Medal of 
        Freedom from President William Jefferson Clinton in 1999; the NAACP 
        Spingarn Medal in 2005; and the dedication of a building on the grounds 
        of the Virginia State Capitol in his honor by the Commonwealth of 
        Virginia in 2005; and
Whereas Mr. Hill served as a mentor to generations of attorneys, activists, and 
        public servants: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate honors the life and legacy of Oliver 
White Hill, a pioneer in the field of American civil rights law, on the 
occasion of his 100th birthday.
                                 <all>