[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 52 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E761-E762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO JAMES FARMER, CIVIL RIGHTS FREEDOM FIGHTER

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 24, 1997

  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, the civil rights struggle was a pivotal 
point in American history. It not only changed the course of our 
Nation, but how we look at each another today. In the annals of 
history, names of heroic citizens are sometimes overlooked, as is often 
the case in turbulent times. It is for this reason that as a member of 
the Congressional Black Caucus, I am pleased that my colleague, the 
gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Lewis, reserved this time today. Mr. 
Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the few living trailblazers in 
America's struggle for civil rights, Mr. James L. Farmer.
  Mr. Farmer was a founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, 
which was a pioneering organization in nonviolent protest. Through Mr. 
Farmer's design, execution, and leadership, a form of peaceful 
protest--known as Freedom Rides--was organized throughout the South as 
part of the movement that led to desegregation and passage of the Civil 
Rights Act.
  James Farmer grew up in the shadow of segregation in Mississippi. As 
a child, he felt the weight of racism and knew that he would eventually 
help bring segregation to its knees. He was right. As the son of a 
clergyman and the first African-American Ph.D. recipient in Texas, 
James Farmer grew up steeped in religion and education. He was supposed 
to follow his father's path to the pulpit, but could not bring himself 
to preach before a church that was segregated, as his was. But it was 
during his education at Howard University School of Divinity that he 
was moved by the teachings of Mohandas Ghandi, and the seed of 
nonviolent protest was planted firmly in his mind.
  In 1942, Mr. Farmer organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in 
Chicago, and it

[[Page E762]]

was in that period that CORE was founded. After World War II, Mr. 
Farmer wanted to test the reality of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which 
declared that segregation of interstate buses was indeed 
unconstitutional in 1947.
  Mr. Speaker, it was in 1961 that integrated groups of brave 
individuals boarded buses to travel throughout the South on what were 
known as Freedom Rides. These riders were threatened, beaten, and 
jailed, but they never wavered in their struggle for the equality they 
knew all Americans were due. Mr. Speaker, these Freedom Rides became a 
very important component in the struggle for civil rights.
  The riders were made up of intrepid and dignified individuals such as 
my colleague John Lewis, with whom I am so proud to serve in the U.S. 
Congress. I want my colleagues to know, however, that the Freedom Rides 
were the work of Jim Farmer. Mr. Farmer, who still resides nearby 
outside of Fredericksburg, VA, deserves our deepest gratitude. It is 
time that we recognize Mr. Farmer as the historic civil rights figure 
that he is. I sincerely hope that President Clinton will give him this 
consideration in his selection of Presidential Medal of Freedom 
recipients, and I thank the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis] for 
taking this special order to honor Jim Farmer. It is entirely fitting 
and proper that Mr. Lewis, himself a great civil rights leader, lead us 
in this special order this evening.

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