[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H6559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO PARKER HIGH SCHOOL, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

  (Mrs. JONES of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Parker High School for its efforts in eliminating color barriers in 
public education in Birmingham, Alabama, and across the United States. 
I would like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. 
Hilliard), for joining me in this tribute to recognize Parker High 
School.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important to salute Parker for the significant 
contributions it has made in educating African Americans. My father, 
Andrew Tubbs, and my uncles, William Burns and Bernard Sherrell, are 
graduates of Parker High School.
  Parker High School was, at one time, considered the world's largest 
historically African American high school. The school was named after 
Arthur H. Parker, a teacher in Birmingham, who established the first 
school in 1899.
  Mr. Speaker, I have heard many good things from my family members 
about how this school has done an excellent job in preparing its 
students to be leaders in their respective fields.
  Parker High School boasts many firsts, for example, graduated the 
largest number of students at an African-American high school in U.S. 
history. And also boasts of an enrollment of 3,702 students fifty years 
ago. Many of their students participated in the Civil Rights Movement 
and have become well-known business, professional, and civic leaders in 
cities across our great Nation.
  During the 1950s, Parker High School raised its academic standard 
above all other schools in the State, which gave its students what many 
considered the best education in Alabama. Some of its graduates include 
Arthur Shores, the first African American admitted to the Alabama Bar; 
Bernice Spraggs, Chicago Defender Washington correspondent; James W. 
Ford, Communist candidate for Vice President in 1936; Shelton ``Sead'' 
Hemphill, the trumpet player for Duke Ellington; and Laura Washington, 
vocalist with Erskine Hawkins.
  Many of their alumni have been respected community leaders in New 
York, Chicago, and my hometown of Cleveland, which is part of the 11th 
Congressional District that I represent.
  I congratulate Parker's class of 1951, who will hold its reunion on 
Friday, July 30, in Cleveland, Ohio. As a guest speaker, I will help 
the class celebrate its history and discuss their theme of ``Crossing 
the Bridge to the 21st Century, By Passing our Legacy on to our 
Heirs.''

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