[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 660 Engrossed in House (EH)]

H. Res. 660

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                      October 21, 2009.
Whereas the Laurinburg Normal Industrial Institute (referred to as the 
        ``Laurinburg Institute'') was founded on September 15, 1904, in 
        Laurinburg, North Carolina, by Emmanuel McDuffie and his wife Tinny 
        Etheridge McDuffie at the request of Booker T. Washington of the 
        Tuskegee Institute and William Edwards of the Snow Hill Institute;
Whereas the Laurinburg Institute is the oldest of only four historically 
        African-American boarding schools still remaining in the United States;
Whereas the Laurinburg Institute was founded to help provide suitable education 
        and training in the common pursuits of life for African-Americans in the 
        area of Laurinburg, North Carolina;
Whereas, on September 15, 1906, Emmanuel McDuffie, J.H. Davis, and Robert Leach 
        incorporated the Laurinburg Institute at Laurinburg, North Carolina, for 
        the instruction of African-American teachers and youth in various 
        academic branches of study and in the best methods of theoretical and 
        practical industry applicable to agriculture and the mechanical arts;
Whereas in 1956, the Laurinburg Institute began to build a new campus, 
        integrated its faculty and student body, expanded its foreign student 
        program, which consisted of students from Russia, Africa, South America, 
        Brazil, Portugal, the Caribbean, and other countries, and further 
        solidified its nationally and internationally recognized athletic and 
        music programs;
Whereas since 1904, the Laurinburg Institute has graduated students of color, 
        and since 1954 many graduates have finished college or other post-
        secondary training;
Whereas the Laurinburg Institute's distinguished alumni include Sir John Swann, 
        the former Premiere of Bermuda and one of the first blacks to be a head 
        of state in the Western Hemisphere, Joy Johnson, one of the first 
        African-Americans elected to the North Carolina General Assembly after 
        the Reconstruction era, John Birks ``Dizzy'' Gillespie, an 
        internationally renowned jazz trumpeter, and Charles ``Charlie'' Scott, 
        the first African-American scholarship athlete at the University of 
        North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who later became a National Basketball 
        Association (NBA) All-Star where he played for such teams as the Boston 
        Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Phoenix Suns, winning 
        an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics and a gold medal in the 1968 
        Summer Olympics;
Whereas in 2005, the North Carolina General Assembly passed Senate Joint 
        Resolution 1178 which honored the lives of Frank and Sammie McDuffie, 
        who were the second generation of McDuffie's to serve as administrators 
        of the Institute, and the work of the Laurinburg Institute in producing 
        educators, humanitarians, athletes, and civil rights and leaders;
Whereas in 2009, the Laurinburg Institute's President and Chief Executive 
        Officer is Frank ``Bishop'' McDuffie, Jr., and his daughter, Frances 
        McDuffie, serves as the Institute's Vice President and President; and
Whereas Frank ``Bishop'' McDuffie and Fraces McDuffie are the third generation 
        of McDuffie administrators of the Laurinburg Institute: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the distinguished history of the Laurinburg Normal 
        Industrial Institute;
            (2) acknowledges the Laurinburg Institute's remarkable contribution 
        to the education of African-Americans and other people in the State of 
        North Carolina and the Nation; and
            (3) commends the enterprise and dedication of the McDuffie family in 
        creating and sustaining the Laurinburg Institute.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.