[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 41 (Monday, March 6, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E522-E523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  A SPECIAL SALUTE TO MARTHA E. BOLDEN: CELEBRATING A LIFE OF ACTIVISM

                                 ______


                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 6, 1995
  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I take pride in rising today to salute a 
resident of my congressional district, Mrs. Martha E. Bolden, who was 
recently profiled in the Plain Dealer newspaper. In the article which 
is entitled, ``Four Score and Ten: A Life of Activism,'' the reporter 
explores the life of this outstanding individual and her contributions 
to our city. Mrs. Bolden is well known for her commitment to improving 
the lives of others. I want to share with my colleagues and the Nation 
some information regarding this outstanding individual.
  Mrs. Bolden was the operator of a beauty shop in Mobile, AL, during 
the 1930's when she was encouraged to vote because she was a 
businessowner. Her $200 poll tax fee was paid by one of the city's 
black physicians. In order to register to vote, Mrs. Bolden was also 
required to memorize the seventh amendment to the Constitution. With 
determination, she overcame this obstacle and became a registered 
voter, achieving celebrity status in the black community. This action 
and determination on the part of Martha Bolden represented the 
beginning of a lifetime of activism.
  Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Bolden moved to Cleveland, OH, in 1953. Over the 
years, the Cleveland community has benefited greatly from her strong 
leadership. Upon arriving in Cleveland, Mrs. Bolden immediately became 
active in the Hough community, encouraging her neighbors to vote and 
work in political campaigns. When riots destroyed city neighborhoods in 
the mid-1960's, Mrs. Bolden was instrumental in helping to rebuild the 
city. She was a founding member of the Hough Area Development Corp., 
which was one of the first community-based development corporations in 
the country. The organization played a key role in revitalizing the 
neighborhood, including the development of shopping facilities and 
housing estates for residents.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to salute Martha Bolden on the House Floor 
today. I can recall that she was one of my first clients when I began 
practicing law in Cleveland. As an attorney, I represented her when she 
purchased her home in the city. I also recall that Mrs. Bolden was an 
active worker in my political campaigns. At the age of 90, she is still 
politically involved as one of the ``101 Women for Stokes.''
  Mr. Speaker, Martha E. Bolden is a hero to many, and an inspiration 
to all of us. Throughout her life, she has given unselfishly of her 
time and talent in an effort to make our city better and empower the 
community. Her political activism has made the difference in the lives 
of many. We salute her for her dedication and commitment. I want to 
share with my colleagues the article regarding Mrs. Bolden which 
appeared in the Plain Dealer. I ask them to join me in paying tribute 
to this exceptional individual.
                 [From the Plain Dealer, Feb. 6, 1995]

                 Four Score and Ten: A Life of Activism

                          (By Olivera Perkins)

       Cleveland.--Martha E. Bolden says she was never afraid.
       [[Page E523]] Not when she was voting in the 1930s in 
     Mobile, Ala., at a time when racial intimidation ensured most 
     blacks didn't vote. Nor during the Hough riots of 1966, when 
     many buildings burned throughout her neighborhood.
       ``I never was afraid of anyone,'' she said. ``I knew what I 
     was doing was right and would help blacks trying to get 
     somewhere.''
       And, she will tell you, she has no regrets.
       At 90, the woman nicknamed Mother of Hough sits in an 
     armchair in the den of her home, spinning historical tales 
     from her life. Time has weakened her body, but not the 
     passion and precision with which she recounts her 
     experiences.
       Bolden remembers being in her Mobile beauty shop in the 
     early 1930s when Dr. John Taylor, one of the city's black 
     physicians, stopped by. Taylor told her she should vote 
     because she was a business owner.
       Taylor paid Bolden's more than $200 poll tax, designed to 
     keep blacks from voting. And she memorized the U.S. 
     Constitution's Seventh Amendment, a requirement for her to 
     register.
       Disturbed that she could pay the tax, the white registrar 
     was confident Bolden would be unable to recite the amendment 
     from memory, she said.
       ``I was always good at remembering things,'' she recalled.
       As a registered voter, Bolden achieved a celebrity status 
     among the city's blacks.
       Bolden became one of the few black women in Mobile invited 
     to join the YWCA. But she wasn't treated as an equal to 
     whites. ``I had no voice,'' she said. ``The only thing you 
     could do is sit there like a log.''
       When a white member of the YWCA offered the black women a 
     building so they would start their own organization, they 
     accepted. Bolden said she knew the woman was racist, but she 
     and the other blacks wanted the autonomy.
       Years later, Bolden continued to talk about her voting 
     experiences. In 1953, she moved to a city where blacks still 
     didn't vote often. That city was Cleveland.
       Many of her new neighbors and friends were surprised she 
     had voted in the deep South.
       ``They would say: `You mean you voted down South?''' she 
     said. ``But I was just as surprised at the number of black 
     people in Cleveland who didn't vote. They had never voted in 
     the South, so they assumed they couldn't vote here.''
       Bolden encouraged her Hough neighbors to vote. She said she 
     worked in several political campaigns, including those of 
     Rep. Louis Stokes and her son-in-law, the late Earl Hooper, a 
     former Cleveland councilman.
       By the time the riots came in the mid-1960s, Bolden was 
     widely known in her community.
       She recalled that the riots--with four people killed 
     between July 18 and July 24, 1966--frightened many of her 
     neighbors. Many wanted to leave; the flames had killed their 
     civic optimism.
       But she had no such thoughts. ``Instead of focusing on the 
     buildings that were burning around me, I tried to keep in 
     mind on how things would be rebuilt,'' she said.
       Bolden helped rebuild her neighborhood as a founding member 
     of the Hough Area Development Corp., one of the first 
     community-based development corporations in the country. One 
     of the group's first projects was the Martin Luther King 
     Plaza shopping center at Wade Park and Crawford Avenues. And 
     in 1979, the group put together Crawford Estates, one of the 
     first residential subdivisions built in a Cleveland inner-
     city neighborhood since World War II.
       Claude Banks, who was president of the now-defunct 
     corporation, said Bolden kept the group focused with her 
     direct, but gentle manner.
       ``Often we would get carried away with our own importance 
     or power base,'' he said. ``She would tell us that we were 
     not there for our own agendas, but the bigger purpose of 
     empowering the community.''
       Ken McGovern, a former vice president at University Circle 
     Inc., which worked closely with the Hough group, said Bolden 
     never swayed from her mission.
       ``She was among a group of indigenous leaders who had the 
     insight to seize control of the political climate of the late 
     1960s and early 1970s in a positive way,'' he said.
       Hunter Morrison, former director of Homes for Hough, a 
     subsidiary of the corporation, said. ``There was always the 
     ideal of being like her, or wanting what was best for the 
     community.''
       Even with all of the community activism, Bolden found time 
     to raise a family of 12 children. She credits her husband 
     Gresson, an automobile mechanic who died in 1984, with 
     helping her.
       ``People would say to me: `We didn't know you had a 
     husband,''' she said. ``I said you wouldn't know because he's 
     not involved in any of this. He stays at home and takes care 
     of the babies.''
       Until she had gallbladder surgery four years ago, Bolden 
     was still active in the community. She even volunteered at 
     the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center several times a 
     week.
       ``You would have thought she was going to a job,'' said 
     Ceola King, her daughter. ``She would be very upset if she 
     couldn't get there on time.''
       Today, she still does a few things--such as helping her 
     daughter with an array of block club activities.
       ``Sometimes I say to myself: `Martha, you have got to 
     rest,''' she said recently. ``But something inside of me says 
     they need you. You can help.''
     

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