[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize 
February as Black History Month and to honor the rich cultural heritage 
of African-Americans in my State of New Jersey. In the arts or letters, 
history or politics, business or education, New Jersey's African-
American community has made a strong and lasting impact on our Nation's 
culture.
  We in New Jersey are very proud that so many great figures in history 
have called our State home. This morning, in honor of Black History 
Month, I would like to call the Senate's attention to four 
distinguished African-Americans who made major contributions to my 
State and our country.
  First, Mr. President, I would call your attention to Jessie Redmon 
Fauset, the seventh child born to Redmon Fauset, an African Methodist 
Episcopal minister in Camden, NJ. Jessie grew up in poor circumstances, 
but her family made education a top priority, and in 1905 she went on 
to become the first black woman in the country elected to Phi Beta 
Kappa. After graduating, Ms. Fauset taught high school French for many 
years, before becoming literary editor of the Crisis, an NAACP 
publication that played a central role in the Harlem renaissance.
  In addition to her work as an editor, Ms. Fauset was also a 
successful novelist. Her initial motivation for becoming a novelist was 
her belief that African-Americans were not being portrayed accurately 
in black fiction. Her work did paint a more accurate picture, and as a 
result, she is still read by those who want to understand African-
American life.
  Second, Mr. President, while many do not know it, the great actress 
and singer Melba Moore is a New Jersey native and a product of New 
Jersey schools. Ms. Moore grew up in Newark, where she attended Arts 
High School and majored in music, following in the footsteps of other 
prominent musicians, including Sarah Vaughan.
  After high school, Melba Moore attended Montclair State Teachers 
College and worked as an elementary school music teacher. She loved her 
students, but her heart was on the stage. Ms. Moore soon left teaching 
and began wowing Broadway crowds with her amazing voice and her 
brilliant sense of humor. Ms. Moore made her Broadway debut in 
``Hair,'' where she attracted widespread attention as the first black 
lead of any of the Broadway ``Hair'' companies around the world--and in 
many people's opinion, the best. Melba Moore once said, ``I want to 
give black people something to look up to, an image they can be proud 
of and kids can emulate.'' She certainly has done that.
  Third, Mr. President, we in New Jersey are very proud to include 
abolition leader William Still as one of our own. William Still was the 
son of two former slaves who escaped from the Eastern Shore of Maryland 
to Burlington County, NJ, in the early 19th century. As a young married 
man, Mr. Still found a job at the Pennsylvania Society for the 
Abolition of Slavery. He soon became a leader in the underground 
railroad and began to aid fugitives from slavery, offering many of them 
room
 and board in his home. One of the former slaves passing through to 
Canada turned out to be William Still's own brother. Mr. Still was so 
affected by that discovery that he began to keep careful records of all 
the former slaves who passed through Philadelphia and New Jersey.

  In 1872, Mr. Still turned these records into a thorough and 
compelling book, which continues to be one of the most influential 
records of the underground railroad movement. William Still's legacy 
was not just the many lives he saved through the underground railroad; 
it is also the timeless chronicle he left of his efforts and those of 
others who helped fugitive slaves escape to Canada.
  Finally, Mr. President, a spirit of social activism also drove Paul 
Robeson, a Princeton, NJ, native, who achieved fame as an all-American 
football player at Rutgers University and later attained worldwide 
recognition as an actor and singer.
  In an interview, Paul Robeson once described his goals this way:

       If I can teach my audience who know almost nothing about 
     [my people], to know [them] through my songs and through my 
     roles . . . then I will feel that I am an artist, and that I 
     am using my act for myself, for my race, for the world.

  Anyone who had the fortune to hear Paul Robeson sing a spiritual, 
anyone who saw his unparalleled performance of ``Othello,'' anyone who 
heard him speak so passionately about the ills of segregation and of 
poverty, knows that in his long and fulfilling life, Paul Robeson, the 
son of a former slave, changed all of us, black and white alike, by 
sharing his passion for justice and for equality.
  Mr. President, there are countless other African-American heroes who 
hail from New Jersey: poets and scientists, entertainers and political 
activist. And there are uncounted others who may never be known beyond 
their families or their neighborhoods, but who have lived their lives 
with dignity and contributed a basic decency and distinction to our 
State.
  Let me just say in closing, that Black History Month should be a time 
for reflection; a time to reflect on the accomplishments of African-
Americans throughout this country and throughout our history, 
accomplishments that often were made in the face of racism, of poverty, 
and unequal opportunity. It should be a time to increase our 
understanding of African-American history and culture, and a time to 
reaffirm our understanding of our cultural diversity, our commitment to 
equality, and our support of racial justice.


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