[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MAY MILLER SULLIVAN

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                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 1995
  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to the 
attention of my colleagues, the passing of May Miller Sullivan on 
February 8 at the age of 96. Today, February 14, 1995, a poetry reading 
memorial service will be held to celebrate her life and work.
  May Miller Sullivan was a Washington poet, playwright, and educator 
whose literary career began in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's. 
Known professionally as May Miller, she was the last survivor of five 
children of Kelly Miller, a nationally known author and philosopher who 
was the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of 
sociology at Howard University.
  Ms. Miller grew up in faculty housing on the Howard University campus 
in a period when the university was a national gathering place for 
black artists and intellectuals. It was not unusual for greats like 
W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington to visit the Miller home. Poet 
Langston Hughes was among the friends of May Miller.
  A native Washingtonian and a graduate of Dunbar High School and 
Howard University, Ms. Miller did postgraduate study in literature at 
American University and Columbia University. For 20 years she traveled 
daily to Baltimore to teach English, speech and drama at Frederick 
Douglass High School.
  Ms. Miller began writing poetry as a child, often encouraged by her 
father, for whom the Kelly Miller Junior High School in Washington is 
named. After graduating first in her class at Howard University, she 
set out to become a playwright and poet.
  Ms. Miller wrote with feeling about people and places in and around 
Washington and about memories and folk tales from her childhood. A 
self-styled poet, Ms. Miller's work has been published in magazines and 
in several collections.
  May Miller Sullivan often remarked, ``If out of a silence I can fill 
that silence with a word that will conjure up an image, then I have 
succeeded.'' By all standards, May Miller Sullivan was a huge success. 
Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleagues will want to extend their 
condolences to Ms. Miller's family--Gloria Miller Clark, Kelly Miller 
III, Suzanne Miller Jefferson, and many other nieces and nephews.


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