[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 50 (Tuesday, April 13, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S3659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MS. ROSA PARKS AND MR. OLIVER W. HILL

 Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, I wanted to say a few words today 
about two civil rights leaders to whom this nation owes an immense debt 
of gratitude. Ms. Rosa Parks and Mr. Oliver W. Hill, both, in very 
distinct ways, took action that has helped make our children more free, 
our society more enlightened, our culture more enriched.
  I was pleased to add my name to the list of cosponsors of S. 531, 
legislation to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Ms. Rosa Parks, who 
as everyone knows stood up to segregation by sitting down in the front 
seats of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. It is difficult to 
adequately put in words the courage it took on the part of Ms. Parks to 
oppose decades of institutionalized racism. It is also hard to describe 
the pride we feel today in Ms. Parks' action, and in how our nation's 
conscience grew, although too slowly, in response to the bus boycott 
that followed.
  Ms. Parks' action set off a 382-day bus boycott by 40,000 people, 
which in turn led to a federal court challenge and the end of 
Montgomery's segregated buses. The decade of peaceful protests that 
followed brought us a string of liberating Supreme Court decisions and 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, Ms. Parks, an unassuming 
seamstress, stands like a giant in the history of the 20th century.
  Mr. Oliver W. Hill, an aggressive attorney for the Civil Rights 
movement, is less well known. But Mr. Hill is no less courageous, and 
the contributions he made to this country deserve much greater 
recognition. For that reason, I've asked the President to award him the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  I describe Mr. Hill as ``aggressive'' because he trained as a warrior 
in the cause of justice: he went to law school specifically to overturn 
Plessy v. Ferguson. His training paid off. He prevailed in Alston v. 
School Board of City of Norfolk to grant equal pay for African American 
teachers. And he defended the rights of African American students in 
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, which was one of 
the five cases decided as part of Brown v. The Board of Education. 
Sadly, all this success was not without cost. Mr. Hill remembers the 
terrible telephone calls to his home, and the cross that was burned on 
his yard in Richmond.
  The courage and accomplishments of this man and this woman are truly 
historic and important to our nation. I hope we can pass S. 531 quickly 
to recognize Ms. Parks, and I hope the President will decide very soon 
to reward Mr. Hill with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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