[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO BISHOP JAMES

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, President Clinton's visit to 
Africa is a historic visit, the first time a sitting American President 
has visited that continent. For a distinguished South Carolinian who is 
accompanying the President, the trip also marks the return to a land 
with which he is very familiar.
  Bishop Fred James, a retired Bishop of the AME Church, is one of 
South Carolina's most respected men of the cloth. For four years in the 
1970s, he served in Capetown, South Africa, as the presiding bishop of 
the AME Church for five countries: South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, 
Namibia, Swaziland, and Mozambique. During Bishop James's tenure, the 
Church conducted not only traditional religious activities, but also 
unorthodox outreach programs to improve the lives of its congregants. 
Among other things, it built schools, operated a publishing house, and 
ran a cattle ranch. None of these was strictly religious in nature, but 
all helped to relieve the oppressive atmosphere of these countries and 
restore a sense of community among the AME Church's congregants.
  After returning from Africa, Bishop James continued to lead outreach 
programs and fight for civil rights at home. Before settling in South 
Carolina, he was active in the NAACP and lived in Arkansas and 
Oklahoma. He also lived in Baltimore, where his responsibilties as 
Bishop overseeing thousands of congregants and many churches were even 
greater than those he shouldered in Africa. As the people of South 
Carolina know so well, Bishop James has been a force for good in every 
community in which he has lived.
  Mr. President, I can think of no better ambassador of our nation's 
good will toward Africa than Bishop Fred James. He has spent the better 
part of his life serving God and his fellow men, without expecting 
recognition or reward. With his selection by President Clinton to be an 
informal, good will ambassador to Africa, he has at last received some 
of both. Let us all hope the United States can achieve the same, strong 
relationship with Africa as that of Bishop James.

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