[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 15, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      HON. HERMAN M. HOLLOWAY, SR.

  Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, Martin Luther King once called to our 
Nation to ``forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.''
  I rise today to honor a man who answered that call, a true leader who 
served as a public official in my State for more than 30 years, and who 
will always serve, to all who knew him and to those who will learn of 
him, as a model of character, principle, and dedication to doing right.
  The Honorable Herman M. Holloway, Sr., died yesterday at the age of 
72; his death was a great public loss for all Delawareans, and a great 
personal loss for those of us who were lucky enough to know him as a 
friend.
  But I do not want to speak today about what we have lost, but of what 
we gained by the life of Herman Holloway, a noble life, a life truly 
well lived.
  Herman M. Holloway, Sr., was born in Wilmington, DE, on February 2, 
1922; he attended Howard High School, in the days when it was the only 
high school in the State open to black students; the second-rate text 
books came from the waste baskets of the white schools, but the first-
rate teachers and role models came, it seemed, from the hand of God.
  Young Herman Holloway was also blessed with a father, of whom he 
spoke often throughout his life, who taught his son to believe in 
himself, and in his capacity to achieve, despite the obstacles that lay 
before him.
  In his youth, Herman Holloway was known as ``knockout'' for his skill 
as a boxer, and as ``kool'' for his ball-handling skills as a 
basketball guard.
  He was, in fact, captain of the Howard basketball team, and also a 
well-regarded scholastic football player.
  After a year at Hampton Institute in Virginia--which he financed by 
working in a school office--and jobs running a bar and grill, 
coordinating activities for the Boy Scouts, and as a city police 
officer. Herman Holloway took up politics, one of the two routes he saw 
for black Americans of his time to pursue successful careers.
  The other was the ministry, and I have no doubt, had Herman Holloway 
chosen the pulpit over politics, that I would still be speaking today 
in celebration and in gratitude for his contributions to my State.

  In November 1963, a day after President John Kennedy was 
assassinated, Herman Holloway was elected to serve in the Delaware 
State House of Representatives.
  He immediately felt the burden, at a time when many lawmakers did not 
even try to hide their racism, of being, in his words--which are 
invariably the best words--

       The one black individual who had the responsibility of 
     relating to the members of the general assembly the wants, 
     needs and desires of black citizens.

  The next year, in 1964, Herman Holloway was elected to the State 
senate, the first and only African-American to serve in that body.
  I do not know when it happened exactly, but it didn't take too long, 
for Herman M. Holloway, Sr., to become known as, simply, the Senator, 
and he has been so known ever since.
  Through 30 years of service, the Senator remained, with probably just 
one peer in Louis Redding, Delaware's great champion in the fight 
against discrimination.
  Despite the boxing nickname of his youth, the Senator did not resort 
always to the knockout punch; he also showed why he was called kool.
  Intelligence, thoughtfulness, careful study and brilliant oratory--
these were the most frequently unleashed weapons in the Senator's 
arsenal.
  He never wavered in his belief that the power of conviction, the 
power of having right on your side, is the greatest force of all.
  He fought for fair housing, beginning in his first legislative term 
in 1963, when his fellow Democrats in the House were, to say the least, 
reluctant to deal with the issue.
  They needed his support on another piece of legislation, so to try to 
pressure them, when their bill came to a vote, he stood, this freshman 
member with the burden of a State's entire black population on his 
shoulders, and answered in his resonant, dignified voice, ``present.''
  As the former president of our State NAACP Chapter, Littleton 
Mitchell, said of Herman Holloway, ``He had the guts.''
  While arguing for that fair housing law back in 1963, the Senator 
spoke, as he so often would, to the conscience of his fellow 
legislators and his fellow citizens.
  Again, his own words provide the best illustration:

       Only a few years ago Delaware was a closed society in which 
     privilege and pleasure were on one side while fear and 
     darkness were on the other in regard to racial and social 
     justice.
       Today there are still pockets of resistance in Delaware, 
     but they are being reduced by constant effort and steady 
     application of good will and education.

  For 30 years, Senator Holloway's constant effort and steady 
application of good will and education helped lead Delaware out of the 
darkness of segregation and discrimination.
  His powerful voice seemed to rise from his heart, for he cared deeply 
and sincerely for the people of our State, especially those who most 
desperately needed a voice for their needs and concerns, African-
Americans, children, the elderly, families living in poverty, the 
disabled, the sick--all of those who had to struggle for a chance to 
reach toward the promise of their lives.
  Senator Holloway gave them one of the most eloquent voices ever heard 
in Delaware. His legislative accomplishments are far too numerous to 
list, but: from that fair housing fight that he did finally win, to 
enactment of the Martin Luther King Holiday, to increasing black voter 
participation. From better social services for the poor, to increased 
educational opportunities for disabled children, to heightened 
sensitivity to the needs of the elderly--the record stands as a living 
legacy of a quiet, patient warrior for right.
  The Senator was a leader by the level of his dedication and the 
effectiveness of his efforts, but above all, he was a leader by the 
example of his character. He was, in the best and most meaningful 
sense, a truly distinguished gentleman.
  In a lifetime of making history--serving during the most troubled 
time of racial tension, becoming the first African-American both to 
serve in the State senate and to be elected to a leadership position 
within that body, for all his history-making roles, Herman Holloway 
always kept his vision on the future, his eye on the prize.
  He was a trailblazer whose main purpose was not his own journey, but 
to clear a path for those who would walk with him and for those who 
would follow him.
  More personally, Madam President, I, like many in my State, will 
always cherish Herman Holloway's friendship as one of the greatest 
blessings I have known.
  As friends and admirers, we join in extending our sympathies to the 
Senator's wife, Ethel, and to their five children, and the 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren whom the Senator cherished so 
deeply.
  We extend our sympathies to his brother and three sisters, with 
gratitude to the entire family for sharing Senator Holloway with us so 
generously.
  Abraham Lincoln was recalled in a poem as a mighty tree, which when 
it falls, ``leaves a lonesome place against the sky.''
  The lonesome place left by Senator Herman Holloway's death will never 
be filled, but the strength of his life's roots and the worth of the 
seeds of understanding and compassion he sowed in all of us, will 
sustain us, and lead us to the best part of ourselves and to the best 
in each other--always.

                          ____________________