[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REV. FRANKLIN A. DORMAN'S ``TWENTY FAMILIES OF COLOR'', PRESERVING THE 
        LEGACY OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS WHO FOUGHT IN THE CIVIL WAR

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 11, 1999

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special appreciation to an 
individual who has made a significant contribution to the civil rights 
movement. Through the recent publication of his book entitled, ``Twenty 
Families of Color'', Rev. Franklin A. Dorman continues to ensure that 
the legacy of all of those African-Americans who generously gave of 
their time, energy and spirit by serving in the Civil War is 
acknowledged and preserved in perpetuity.
  During his 22-year ministry with the United Church of Christ, the 
Rev. Franklin A. Dorman, now retired, was greatly concerned with the 
struggle for civil rights. He participated in hundreds of marches, 
vigils and non-violent demonstrations, some of which led to his 
imprisonment. Dorman has had a longtime interest in history and 
genealogy. In 1994, after retiring, he published a two-volume book 
about his family's history. Among other things, he discovered that 36 
members of his family fought in the Civil War.
  After seeing the movie, ``Glory'', starring Denzel Washington and 
Morgan Freeman, about a regiment of black soldiers who also fought in 
the Civil War, ``Something clicked in me,'' Dorman recalled. ``I said, 
`Who are these guys?' They didn't just come from nowhere--they had 
parents and grandparents, wives, children and grandchildren.''
  That interest, according to the September 1998 issue of ``United 
Church News'', led Dorman to write Twenty Families of Color in 
Massachusetts, published in 1998 by the New England Historic 
Genealogical Society in Cambridge, MA. Dorman hopes the book will help 
establish for the record the important roles African-Americans have 
played in American society during the last 250 years.
  Twenty Families of Color traces the ancestors and more than 1,000 
descendants of a group of African-American Civil War soldiers and 
sailors who fought in the Massachusetts 54th and 55th Colored 
Infantries, the 5th Cavalry, and the Union Navy. The descendants live 
throughout the United States. Several live in the Oakland, CA area and 
will attend an event in Oakland on Saturday, February 13, 1999 during 
which Dorman will speak about his work and his experiences.
  The engagement, ``Finding Your Roots: African American Family History 
Research'', will take place from 3-5 p.m., at the Interfaith Center of 
the Oakland Mormon Temple on Temple Hill in Oakland. Dorman will 
explain how he did the research for his book and how others can 
research and write their own family histories.
  Temple Hill houses a Family History Center, which provides access to 
the largest genealogical records library in the world. During the 
program, C. Malcolm Warner, president of the Oakland Mormon Mission, 
will invite residents of the Oakland area, including African-American 
residents, to become acquainted with the Center in order to research 
their family histories. Warner traced his own roots back to Canada, 
where during the 18th Century, his family provided a stop on the 
``Underground Railroad'' for African Americans who escaped from slavery 
and made their way to safety across the international border.
  ``Rarely do compiled genealogies make interesting reading,'' wrote 
Henry B. Hoff in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 
Twenty Families of Color, however, ``is an exception. . . . Many 
descendants [of the black Civil War soldiers and sailors] have taken an 
active role in bettering their communities.''
  As we enter the 21st Century, African-Americans are still struggling 
to gain equal opportunity in American life. Yet the individuals 
portrayed in his book ``are not movie stars, presidents or generals. 
They are the kind of people who made history in a most concrete sense--
they built this country, farmed it, gave [it] birth. I call them ``real 
people.''
  I am proud that many of the subjects of this history live in and 
around the City of Oakland and the 9th Congressional District of 
California. On behalf of the citizens of Oakland and my district, I 
welcome Reverend Dorman to the district and commend him for the 
significant work he has done.

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