[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H580-H581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   COMMEMORATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 1997, the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Millender-
McDonald] is recognized for 60 minutes.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank our 
chairwoman, Congressman Maxine Waters, the gentlewoman from California, 
for her leadership and tenacity in moving forthwith on critical issues 
of importance, not only to African-Americans, but to all Americans, and 
to our revered and preeminent leader, the gentleman from Ohio, 
Congressman Louis Stokes, for the guidance in advising those of us who 
have come recently to this House to do the people's business. My thanks 
to both of my colleagues for allowing me these moments to reflect.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud African American to acknowledge 
this month as African American History Month and to recognize the vast 
contributions made by distinguished citizens of this Nation who are of 
African descent.
  As we hold our forbearers to high esteem for their courage, 
perseverance, morality and faith, we salute them for their relentless 
efforts in fighting to remove the legal and political disabilities that 
were imposed upon us.
  While I represent California's 37th Congressional District with 
pride, my birth State is Alabama, and I am reminded of the first 
African American from Alabama who was elected to the 42d Congress and 
who advocated even then the importance of education, Benjamin Sterling 
Turner.
  Education has been the cornerstone in the African American community. 
My father, Rev. Shelley Millender, Sr., knew the importance of 
education. He and my mother, Mrs. Evelena Deutsche Millender advocated 
a quality education and gave us a value system that is part and parcel 
of the true spirit of African American families. We recognize that a 
good education is the key to success and should open the door of 
opportunity.
  I am further reminded of my father's teachings when he said, never 
subordinate to race-bashing; respect yourself and others, even though 
you have differences of opinion, but hold firm to your convictions.
  Let us not forget one who had strong convictions in the name of Wiley 
Branton, now deceased, but who was a great American and a great leader 
in the early civil rights movements. He was born and reared in Pine 
Bluff, AR, became a lawyer, and began practicing law in his hometown. 
His earliest achievements, however, was of national interest, as he 
represented the Little Rock Nine in 1958. He later became the Assistant 
Attorney General for Civil Rights, being appointed by the President, 
then Lyndon Johnson. He served as the dean of Howard University School 
of Law until his death. Convictions like that and convictions like 
Branton is but one of the various teachings of commitment and 
dedication that the African American family instills in their children.
  As I listened very closely to the President's State of the Union 
Address, as he spoke of education as a No. 1 priority, building strong 
families and communities, and humanitarian efforts in the assistance of 
the underprivileged through volunteerism, I stand tonight to lift up 
some of my constituents who are role models and great citizens that the 
President talked about. Their names will never be in lights nor on 
billboards, but they are the unsung heroes of my community. They helped 
in the education of our children, they built strong families and 
engaging communities, and they taught us to have a strong value system. 
Let me share with you these outstanding African American individuals.
  Theresa LaVerne Harris who passed away in November 1996 was a 
dedicated educator. Throughout her life Theresa LaVerne touched all of 
us who had the pleasure of knowing her with her humor, her strength 
and, perhaps most importantly, her dignity. But she never forgot that 
education was the key, and therefore she became an educator and an 
administrator with the Los Angeles Unified School District. She spent 
her early youth in Louisiana and Mississippi until her family moved to 
California in 1943. She attended the Los Angeles unified schools and 
graduated from John Francis Polytechnic High School with honors. But it 
was during her college days at UCLA that she decided to become this 
educator.
  Theresa LaVerne began a long distinguished life educating the young 
kids from the inner city. She excelled in her career as an educator. 
Though she raised three outstanding children, she was a loving and 
supportive wife, and in spite of all of this, she went on to earn a 
master's degree in personnel administration from Pepperdine University.
  But both as an educator and an administrator within a public school 
system, Theresa LaVerne worked hard to ensure that students under her 
charge had the very best of education available to them. While she was 
deservedly proud of her mark as a personal and academic woman of 
achievements, she was more interested in using her talents and her 
strength to help children to become better educated and to ensure their 
mark in the future in mainstreaming them into the world of work.
  Those of us who worked around her saw that she was a very strong 
disciplinarian in her efforts to make sure that education stayed the 
primary responsibility of those teachers and administrators who worked 
under her watch.
  Mr. Speaker, I worked with Theresa LaVerne Harris and had the 
privilege of knowing her and her family for decades. She was a devoted 
wife, a wonderful and nurturing mother, a role model not only for our 
children, but for all of

[[Page H581]]

us who had the opportunity to know her. She will be sorely missed, and 
as I said a moment ago, she was one who was a person who did 
extraordinary work in the field of education and educating our 
children.
  The next person I will speak of is Carolyn Ann Richardson Cheney, a 
woman of immense talents. Carolyn passed away in December 1996, and she 
too was a devoted family and community leader. She had a generosity of 
spirit in giving all that she could to the community and to inspire 
those who worked around her. Those of us who knew her knew that she 
spent her early days as a youth in El Paso, TX, before moving to 
California. After graduating from high school she obtained a dental 
assistance credential and began working in Los Angeles. Her further 
thirst for education prompted her to go on to Compton College, where 
she earned her associate arts degree and on to California State 
University, Dominquez Hills where she finished her bachelor's degree 
with honors.
  What do these two people have in common? In spite of being mothers 
and in spite of being wives, they obtained their education and went on 
to help others outside of their children. Carolyn's ambition, strength, 
and motivation found expressions in her entrepreneurial and managerial 
talents. For 13 years she worked in Sears & Roebuck during off times to 
help with the family finances.
  In 1980, she opened her own insurance agency, and it became one of 
the top agencies in southern California, and despite all of this she 
found time to serve her community and her church, reaching out to 
teenage mothers, reaching out to the desolate, reaching out to those 
who were the homeless. She volunteered in the Los Angeles probation 
department in the chaplain's office. Carolyn received the Paul Harris 
Fellowship by the Rotary International in appreciation for her efforts 
and assistance in the furtherance of better understanding and friendly 
relationships among peoples throughout the world.
  Though she was a loving and devoted mother of 4 children, through 
words and deeds, she instilled in them the principle of honesty, 
integrity, hard work, perseverance, and self-sacrifice. And these are 
the values that help to make our Nation great and our people strong. 
Her attributes are a testament to the unending strength of motherhood. 
Carolyn will be sorely missed by all of those and all of us who knew 
her for her nurturing, her leadership, and her strength. She indeed was 
an inspiration to all of us throughout the community.
  I pay homage to Mr. Sam Littleton, who passed away January 31 of this 
year. Mr. Littleton went to work early as a mail carrier in the cities 
of Los Angeles and Compton until he was stricken with disability. But 
his disability did not dissuade him to go on in his middle age to 
college, having received an AA degree from Compton College and a 
bachelor's degree from Los Angeles University of Los Angeles. But he 
was still motivated for higher education and he applied and was 
accepted to the graduate program of social work at UCLA.
  When he became a social worker, he started work at the new then-
Martin Luther King, Jr., Medical Center. He elected to not work as a 
social worker in the daytime, but he elected to work as a social worker 
at night so that those who worked during the day, parents, single 
parents, and those who could not get off at work could come and talk 
with him, and he counseled them. He was the only social worker in the 
State of California who took an evening shift. He was a positive and 
unique role model for the community. He served and assisted with the 
bereaved and grieving families; he assisted many homeless persons in 
finding shelter; he counseled many with abuse problems and substance 
abuse as well, and he even counseled women who were victims of rape. 
The elderly grew to know him as a person whom they could depend upon 
because he would make home visits to make sure that they felt safe in 
their homes and that their needs were met even though they could not 
come out from their homes.
  Yes, his 18 years of service as an evening social worker endeared him 
to not only his family, but to employees and coworkers and the 
community around him. He will be sorely missed, but his legacy remains.
  I salute Mr. Sam Littleton for an outstanding record of public and 
community service, a record that has touched so many lives throughout 
the community. He was truly an inspiration to all of us. His community 
commitment, his dedication to human services, his social services and 
service to the community through volunteerism were indeed the life and 
the high regard that was given to him at the time of his funeral on 
January 31.
  Another person who is not deceased yet, of course, is Maxie Filer, 
who has given 45 years of public service to the community. Mr. Filer is 
in the Guiness Book of Records because he took the law exam 45 times 
before he passed. Perseverance. He was indeed a role model and is a 
role model to the community.
  While he has 7 children, 3 of whom are attorneys and one is a judge, 
Mr. Filer knew the importance of public service. He was a resident of 
Compton for over 40-some years. He served in presidential campaigns; he 
was the president of the Compton Democratic Club in 1952. He was labor 
and industry community chairman. He was even with Martin King on the 
march on Washington in 1963, and he became the president of the Compton 
NAACP from 1964 to 1970. Mr. Filer served as a Compton city council 
member from 1976 through 1989.
  His commitment, though, to the youth, the African-American males, is 
one indication of a man who knew outside of being a father to his 7 
children, along with his wife, Glendell, that he had to help young 
African-American males to see the right way, to move into a mainstream 
of life and to divert from gangs and drugs.
  He is still serving in the community as an attorney and does a lot of 
pro bono work for those in the community who are unable to pay for 
legal service. Maxie Filer is one who now recognizes volunteerism is an 
important component. He will serve as my chairperson for my 
volunteerism task force that I am convening.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. Speaker, as new trailblazers emerge to chart new paths, and they 
commence agendas to promote African-Americans and invest in future 
generations, let us never forget the spirit of those who I have 
mentioned, and our forebears.
  Let us also recognize the ones whose names do not ripple in neon 
lights, whose distinctiveness has yet to be embedded on printed pages. 
Because for all that we are and hope to be, it is because of them. For 
all of the songs that they sang over stovetops and beside washtubs that 
went unscored, for all the poems that they scribbled on matchboxes and 
matchbox covers and on dinner napkins that went unpublished and 
unnoticed, for the many discovered roles that they played in unrecorded 
and then unforgotten movies, and for all that they did for us, we are 
all the better because of them.
  We want them to know that they will not go unnoticed, because each 
time we sign our names, we know that it is for the thousand like them 
who cannot hold a pen, but instead, held us, and tucked us in gently, 
as they sang the many rhythms and rhymes of the old African spirituals.
  Mr. Speaker, I have come tonight because I wanted to recognize not 
just those of us who perhaps in the eyes of others have succeeded, but 
for the many who perhaps will not ever work in this Chamber, will not 
ever have an opportunity to run campaigns, but they, too, have given so 
much to this Nation and to this world.
  As we celebrate African-American History Month, let us not forget 
those who toiled in order that we would have a place in this House.

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