[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1870-H1872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO JAMES FARMER, CIVIL RIGHTS FREEDOM FIGHTER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 7, 1997, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] is recognized
for the remaining 18 minutes of the hour of the gentleman from North
Dakota [Mr. Pomeroy].
General Leave
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks on the subject of my special order today.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Georgia?
There was no objection.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker I rise to pay tribute to one of the
last of a special breed of freedom fighters, James Farmer. His voice
has been strong and reliable; his leadership, invaluable. However,
James Farmer has never sought the limelight. In the course of history
and fate, he has not been given his due. We owe it to ourselves and to
the unborn generations to stop and pay tribute to this great man, and
that is why we are here tonight, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the District of
Columbia, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his great
generosity in yielding to me. First, in light of some unavoidable
scheduling difficulties, I will be brief, but I believe I had to come
forward, because, Mr. Speaker, I was in the nonviolent army of Jim
Farmer, and if I may say so, in the nonviolent army where one of the
commanders was the gentleman who has the remaining period, the
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis].
He and I, because we were in that army, needed to come forward to pay
tribute to a man who, as the gentleman from Georgia has said, many in
America do not know, but who everybody knew in the 1960's when he led
the nonviolent marches, and encouraged Americans to remain nonviolent
in the face of what might otherwise have been temptations into
violence.
The name of James Farmer is, indeed, a name that will go down in
history as one of the great civil rights leaders of the 20th century.
James fought the brutality of racism through nonviolent means, making
him one of the Nation's most recognizable and influential black leaders
in the 1960's.
{time} 1845
In 1942, Jim Farmer and several Christian pacifists founded the
Congress of Racial Equality with the goal of using nonviolent Gandhian
tactics to challenge American racism. Under his leadership, the
Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE as it became called, began a
campaign of sit-ins which successfully ended discrimination in two
Chicago restaurants in 1947. Later he would be appointed the executive
director of CORE, and in 1961 his group would initiate the famous
freedom rides throughout the Deep South. The gentleman from Georgia
will tell you all about those rides.
Like Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and other
courageous black men of the early civil rights movement, Jim Farmer was
no stranger to the danger of organizing nonviolent demonstrations in
the tumultuous South of the 1960's. Jim Farmer literally put his life
on the line more than once in the struggle for civil rights. In 1963,
outside the town of Plaquemine, LA, a mob of State troopers hunted for
him after he organized nonviolent demonstrations. He said and I am
quoting him: ``I was meant to die that night, they were kicking open
doors, beating up blacks in the streets, interrogating them with
electric cattle prods.'' And remarkably, Jim made his escape by playing
dead in the back of a hearse which carried him along back roads out of
town.
This articulate and charismatic leader continued to spread the method
of nonviolent demonstrations throughout the country. Under his
direction, CORE organized voter registration and civil protests like
the 1964 demonstration at the New York World's Fair to protest black
conditions in that city. In 1966, Jim Farmer resigned from CORE and a
leadership role and went on to continue his work in civil rights in
other ways. As president of the Center for Community Action, he
championed adult literacy. His service with the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare was noteworthy for programs increasing black
employment in the agency under President Richard Nixon. Later he would
direct the Council on Minority Planning and Strategy here in
Washington.
The gentleman from Georgia, several other Members of Congress and I
have written the President to ask that the Medal of Freedom be awarded
to this great American who was among the class of the great civil
rights leaders of the 1960's. He is, Mr. Speaker, today blind. He has
lost the use of both of his legs. And yet with the indomitable
determination for which he was known in his younger years, he continues
as a distinguished professor of history and American studies at Mary
Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA.
This is a very distinguished American. He helped originate the
nonviolent approach that saved our country from race war. One of the
originators of this approach among the young people, I must say, Mr.
Speaker, was the gentleman from Georgia, who perhaps more than any man
in America suffered physically for his commitment to nonviolence. But
he would be the first to note his gratitude to a man who was his senior
and the leader of us all because we were young whippersnappers learning
from the likes of Jim Farmer.
Few if any countries have solved so serious a problem, so deep a
problem as American racism nonviolently. Martin Luther King, Jr., was
not the only apostle of nonviolent resistance and peaceful approaches
to breaking down racial barriers. He is only the best known. One of the
very best known of course continues to serve in this Congress, and that
is the gentleman from Georgia. But the fact is that in these days, when
we decry violence in our country, we would do well to look to the
leadership of those who were willing to die for nonviolent change.
The moment of civil rights triumph may be a distant memory to some.
[[Page H1871]]
After all, we are a generation removed, but certain ideas never lose
their currency and one of those ideas is equality. Another of those
ideas is racial harmony. And Jim Farmer stood proudly for both and
would stand proudly for both today. The President of the United States,
Mr. Speaker, has said that race relations is one of the priorities of
his second term and well it might be.
Mr. Speaker, we ought to be worried about race relations in our
country today, so many of us are comfortable, the smaller the group.
The fact is that when the gentleman from Georgia and I were young
troops in the nonviolent armies of the South, I think it fair to say
that there was greater communication often across racial lines than
there is today. We are not nostalgic about the past, but there are some
parts of the past that I would like to recall. One way to recall and to
pay a debt the country owes is for President Clinton to award the Medal
of Freedom to an American hero, a man who suffered for it, a man who
stood on principle and a man who taught America that its gravest social
problem could be solved and could be solved nonviolently.
The life of Jim Farmer recalls us to first principles, brotherhood
and sisterhood, if you will, racial equality and racial and ethnic
harmony. These are great American principles. They have had their ups
and they have had their downs, but they are and must remain with us in
perpetuity. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his great generosity
in yielding to me.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman
from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton] for those very moving words.
We are grateful for her leadership, for coming here tonight to
recognize Jim Farmer.
Mr. Speaker, we really did not hear a lot about nonviolence as a part
of the early civil rights movement until the Montgomery bus boycott in
1955. But that was actually almost 15 years after the use of Gandhian
principles in the struggle for civil rights. Jim Farmer, this brave
warrior, did it first.
When Jim Farmer graduated from the School of Theology at Howard
University in 1941, he went to work for a pacifist organization in
Chicago, the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Farmer had been studying the
nonviolent techniques and teaching of Gandhi. He marveled at the
success of Gandhi's 1930 salt march to the sea. He suggested to the
Fellowship of Reconciliation that they find ways to use Gandhi
techniques, civil disobedience, direct action, and nonviolence in the
battle against segregation. The Fellowship of Reconciliation, better
known as FOR, did not take his suggestion. It did not attempt to
discourage him but said that it would not sponsor such activity at that
time. So Jim enlisted some of his friends, an interracial group, mostly
graduate students at the University of Chicago, and they founded what
they called CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality.
One evening after a CORE meeting, Jim and a white friend stopped by
the Jack Spratt Coffee Shop. Farmer wanted to order a doughnut. He was
told that he could not be served. Farmer told the waiter that he was
violating State law by refusing to serve him. The waiter said, fine,
that doughnut will be $1. The usual selling price was 5 cents.
The next day Farmer came back with about 20 of his friends. The
whites in the group were served; the blacks were not. But no one would
eat until everyone was served. They very calmly explained that it would
be rude to do otherwise. The result was that they all ended up sitting
there all day.
For 3 or 4 days they came back to Jack Spratt Coffee Shop first thing
in the morning and tied up almost every seat for almost all of the day.
It did not take Jack Spratt long to give in and serve everyone. Farmer
sent them a nice letter thanking them for changing their policy. This
was our Nation's first nonviolent sit-in. That was April 1942, 55 years
ago this month.
Gandhi's technique of civil disobedience, direct action, and
nonviolence has worked. Jim Farmer was right. Fifty years ago, in 1947,
Farmer led CORE members in a challenge to the practice of segregated
seating on buses traveling interstate. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled
the year before that blacks could not be forced to ride in the back of
the bus. On what he called the journey of reconciliation, they traveled
through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Some
members of that group included Bayard Rustin. Three were arrested and
they served 30 days on a chain gang in North Carolina for having
violated local segregation laws. But in 1961, Farmer organized the
Freedom Ride. He came here to Washington on May 1, 1961; 13 of us, 7
whites and 6 blacks, Farmer, like myself, who was one of the original
freedom riders. In May 1961, we left Washington, DC to travel
throughout the South.
Some of us pretended during those workshops to be white and some said
horrible things and beat others of us up. We discussed what we could
expect on the freedom ride. We resisted violence. We practiced being
nonviolent. We prayed. We prepared ourselves for the worst. Three days
later, we set out on the Freedom Ride on May 4, 1961.
Officials in the southern States knew we were coming. Jim had sent
them letters in advance. Virginia and North Carolina took down their
white-only and colored-only signs that had been hanging in the bus
station. We had no problem there. South Carolina was a different story.
When we arrived in a little town called Rock Hill, there were young men
waiting for us. They would not allow us to enter the waiting room. I
explained to them my rights under a Supreme Court decision and they
clubbed each one of us.
But Farmer had trained us well. My eyes, like others', were on the
prize. Nothing could stop me or the others. We were on a mission.
When we got to Birmingham, Bull Connor, the chief of police, had his
officers put newspapers on the bus windows so that we could not see
out. When we arrived on the scene, he ordered the troopers to take us
into protective custody. They put us in jail where we stayed until the
next day.
We went on a hunger strike. You see, that was one of the techniques
of nonviolence Jim Farmer had taught us. The media attention would be
focused on our hunger strike, and Bull Connor would not want to risk
our getting sick or starving on his watch. By going on a hunger strike,
we were going to force Bull Connor to change his behavior, to change
whatever plans he may have had for us and treat us differently than he
may have otherwise. It worked.
But the next day, Bull Connor drove us 150 miles to the State line
and told us to get out. We walked and walked until we found a black
couple that took us in and fed us. We called fellow students in
Nashville, and they came to pick us up and took us back to Birmingham
to resume the ride. I guess Bull Connor must have thought these young
people are like fleas. We can get rid of them. But that is what Jim
Farmer taught us. Go on, get under their skin.
Mr. Speaker, James Farmer, this good and decent man, taught us how to
practice the philosophy and the discipline of nonviolence. Jim Farmer
was one of the big six of the civil rights movement, and with each of
us Jim was scheduled to speak at the March on Washington in 1963. But
rather than coming to the March on Washington, he was arrested and
placed in jail in a parish in Louisiana. And he stayed there with the
people rather than coming to speak at the March on Washington.
Mr. Speaker, let me close tonight by saying, James Farmer is not in
good health tonight. But he is still teaching at Mary Washington
College where he is a distinguished professor of history and American
studies. He continues to inspire his students and all those who are
blessed as I was to come in contact with him, to set goals, direct
action, to be creative, to have a vision, and keep the faith.
Mr. Speaker, as a nation and as a people, we are more than lucky, but
we are blessed to have had this man in our midst to lead American
people toward the creation of a truly beloved community, toward the
creation of an interracial democracy. So we are doing the right thing
here tonight, Mr. Speaker, by honoring this great man, James Farmer.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, 55 years ago, James Farmer had the tenacity
and passion to organize and lead the first sit-in at the Jack Spratt
Coffee Shop in Chicago, IL. This director of the Congress of Racial
Equality [CORE] during the height of the civil rights movement is still
around to tell what it was like at the helm.
[[Page H1872]]
Farmer's determination grew from an early incident. At the age of
3\1/2\, he learned about racism for the first time when he was denied a
Coca-Cola because of the color of his skin in Holly Springs, MS. From
that day forward, he was burdened with a desire to bring about racial
harmony and equality.
James Farmer is the last of the ``Big Four'' civil rights movement
leaders. The other three coleaders of the civil rights movement of the
1960's are not around to tell their stories and give their historical
perspective on America. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, Roy Wilkins of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Whitney Young of
the Urban League are now deceased.
However, James Farmer is still with us. Referred to as a ``young
Negro aristocrat'', Farmer was born in Texas, where his father was the
first black person to earn a Ph.D. degree. Today, he is 77 years old,
blind and he has lost the use of both legs.
As we approach a new millennium, Americans and the world are still
trying to bring about racial justice and understanding; a philosophy
Farmer espoused when he began training an interracial group of 13 young
people in the nonviolent techniques of Gandhi. To ensure that this
history is never lost, it is fitting that Mr. James Farmer be awarded
the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his meritorious contributions to
our society.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to add my voice to those of my
colleagues in appreciation of and respect for a quiet hero, Mr. James
L. Farmer. During the turbulent 1960's, he rightfully earned his place
as one of the ``Big Four'' in the civil rights movement along side the
other giants: Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Though famous for founding the Congress for Racial Equality, James
Farmer was an unassuming, modest man. For that reason, many Americans--
African-American as well as white--are unaware of the invaluable
contributions he made to the civil rights movement, and, even more
importantly, to the fulfillment of America's underlying principles and
goals for all of its citizens. We call on President Clinton to honor
James Farmer by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sadly, few who are familiar with photographs of James Farmer taken in
the sixties when he orchestrated the first Freedom Rides would
recognize him today. At 77, he is blind, suffers from severe diabetes,
and has been forced to undergo several amputations. Even now, he is
hospitalized, recovering from the latest operation to remove his left
leg above the knee.
By where James Farmer's body may be weak, his achievements remain as
strong as any man's. He continues his life-long work, teaching a
popular civil rights course at Mary Washington College in my State. And
the textbook for that class is his autobiography. The achievements of
the civil rights movement are in large part the achievements of James
Farmer. And the time is right to honor his achievements. Let him just
this once feel the applause, receive the accolades, and hear the words
of thanks from a grateful nation.
Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join in paying tribute to one
of our Nation's heroes in the battle for racial equality. A man of
unwavering faith and steadfast devotion to his people and his Nation,
James Farmer has devoted his whole life to the cause of racial harmony
and individual justice. James Farmer is a man of vision who infused a
generation of black Americans with the spirit and strength of
nonviolent protest against the scourge of racism and injustice. Through
countless contributions and endless personal sacrifices, James Farmer
has played a critical role in profoundly changing the course of our
Nation's history.
Mr. Speaker, I am personally grateful to Farmer for the support and
inspiration he gave to me and to so many others at a critical time in
the history of the civil rights movement. Farmer founded the Congress
on Racial Equality. CORE was the catalyst for challenging and
overcoming the entrenched segregation and racism that incarcerated
black Americans and sentenced all Americans to a nation of unfulfilled
promises, lost to its once cherished vision of freedom and equality. It
was unfortunate that Farmer was unable to address the Great March on
Washington, his remarks had to be read by someone else because he was
jailed in Plaquemine, LA.
James Farmer was a founding father of the 20th century civil rights
movement. In the beginning, there were only a handful who committed
themselves to banishing segregation and building a colorblind nation.
Although their numbers were few, their dedication was enormous. In just
a few short years Farmer saw his followers grow from dozens to hundreds
to thousands; under his leadership the Freedom Riders rose up and
changed the direction of a nation.
Mr. Speaker, it was my privilege to have worked with CORE in the
1950's and the 1960's. It was my privilege to be among those sent to
jail for our peaceful protest at the Jefferson Bank in St. Louis. And,
it has been a privilege to have spent my career fighting for equal
rights and social justice. James Farmer has been a source of courage
and strength to me and to thousands of others. All who cherish racial
harmony are grateful to James Farmer for his wisdom and guidance and
devotion. James Farmer is a man of peace and good will. He will be
forever appreciated and celebrated for a life service to his people and
his Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I salute James Farmer and urge President Clinton to
award this outstanding American the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
____________________