[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 132 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8116-H8117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO QUINN CHAPEL AME CHURCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Granger). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Davis] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and 
congratulate the Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church on the 
occasion of their 150th year anniversary. One hundred fifty years ago, 
in 1847, the community and fellowship known as Quinn Chapel African 
Methodist Episcopal Church formally took its name under the leadership 
of Rev. George Johnson, a missionary of the New York conference.
  This group of churchgoers decided to name their church in honor of, 
and after the renowned Bishop William Paul Quinn. Bishop Quinn was one 
of the most prolific circuit-riding preachers in the 1800's who 
personally organized 97 AME churches, prayer bands, and temperance 
societies. It is interesting to note that Quinn Chapel's first 
community project focused on the abolition of slavery, and ironically, 
Quinn Chapel became a station on the Underground Railroad. Moreover, 
for 150 years, during race riots, depressions, the great Chicago Fire 
of 1871, and a myriad of other natural disasters and human crises, 
African-Americans came to Quinn Chapel for protection, information, 
support, and inspiration, in part because African-Americans were denied 
attention from other private institutions.
  Quinn Chapel was the birthplace of Provident Hospital of Chicago, 
organized by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams in 1891. Dr. Williams was the 
first surgeon to successfully operate on a human heart, and Provident 
was the first U.S. hospital where black nurses could be trained and 
employed. In addition, black physicians could treat patients and black 
patients could receive quality care, where before black patients' only 
option for surgery was the doctor's office or their own home. In 
addition, it was Quinn Chapel who initiated in 1898 the first 
retirement home for African-Americans.
  The sons and daughters of Quinn Chapel have filled important 
leadership roles in the AME church, including Archibald Carey, Sr., 
B.A. Taylor, Archibald Carey, Jr., John M. Crawford, Jr., Mrs. Portia 
Bailey Beal, Rev. Charles Spivey, Jr., and Mrs. Eloise King. 
Additionally, the sons and daughters of Quinn Chapel have also made 
historic contributions to public service, including State Senators 
Adelbert G. Roberts, William A. Roberts, and State Representatives 
Cornell A. Davis, Shadrach B. Turner, George Kersey, and James Y. 
Carter, and Aldermen Robert R. Jackson, Rev. A.J. Carey, Jr., and 
Pastor A. Leon Bailey. Also, the first executive director of the 
Illinois Commission on Human Relations.
  More than 65 sons and daughters of Quinn Chapel have been 
specifically singled out for their pioneering work in education in 
Chicago, across the Nation, and around the world. Others have excelled 
in self-help, and toward that end have founded numerous businesses, 
including Mr. Kit Baldwin, the founder of Baldwin Ice Cream Com., and a 
cofounder of the Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce. Many outstanding 
artists have performed at Quinn Chapel or for Quinn Chapel, including 
Duke Ellington, Patti LaBelle, and Wynton Marsalis.
  Quinn Chapel has always demonstrated a high level of involvement with 
national affairs, from the abolition of slavery to every war, beginning 
with the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, 
the Korean war, Vietnam conflicts, and continuing today.
  Quinn Chapel has hosted many historical figures such as Presidents 
William McKinley and Howard Taft, Dr. Booker T. Washington, Ms. Jane 
Adams, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 
Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., Prof. Michael 
E. Dyson, Frederick Douglass, Dr. George Washington Carver, Richard B. 
Garrison,

[[Page H8117]]

Susan B. Anthony, Branch Rickey, Studs Terkel, Irving ``Kup'' Kupcient, 
Lionel Hampton, Senators Paul Douglas, Charles Perry, and Adalai 
Stevenson, Oprah Winfrey, Scottie Pippen, Patti LaBelle, Oscar Brown, 
Jr., Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Mayor Willie Brown, Jr., and of course 
Chicago's magnificent mayor, Harold Washington.

                              {time}  1915

  Quinn Chapel has been pastored by a succession of extraordinarily 
devoted, talented, dedicated, and unique individuals who have left 
their imprint on the church and the community. Those dynamic pastors 
have come all the way from Archibald Carey to Thomas M. Higginbotham, 
who is currently there. These individuals have contributed 
significantly to the development of African-American life.
  I salute and commend them on the occasion of their 150th year 
celebration, and I urge that we all take note of their mammoth 
contributions to the development of African-American life.

                          ____________________