[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H522-H532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SPECIAL ORDERS
HERITAGE AND HORIZONS: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN LEGACY AND THE CHALLENGES
OF THE 21ST CENTURY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 1999, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, it is always a great opportunity
for me to have opportunity to address the Congress in a special order,
particularly when the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) is the
Speaker pro tempore.
Our theme today is Heritage and Horizons: The African American Legacy
and the Challenges of the 21st Century. As we come to the close of the
celebrated African American history month, it is a great opportunity
for the Congressional Black Caucus to organize a special order to
celebrate black history. I want to thank the gentleman from South
Carolina (Chairman Clyburn) for designating me to organize this special
order.
I took up the mantle after my predecessor, the Congressman from the
11th Congressional District of Ohio, Congressman Louis Stokes, who had
this responsibility for his 30 years in Congress.
The theme for this year's Black History Special Order is Heritage and
Horizons: The African American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st
Century.
As we embark upon a new millennium, I believe it painful and powerful
that this theme allows us to pay tribute to our past and allows us to
make plans for our future. The question is how do we plan for our
future. One way is to plan for our future by giving tribute to our
past, learning the lessons of our past and paying tribute to our
successes as a people.
I believe the past can serve as a blueprint for future generations on
how to get things done.
There are many events that have shaped and defined the African
American experience in America today that never should be forgotten.
What should never be forgotten is the sacrifice that others have made
to ensure future generations' success.
For that reason, I have chosen to highlight my predecessor, the
former Representative, Congressman Louis Stokes. He retired from
Congress on January 2, 1999. He currently serves as senior counsel at
Squire, Sanders and Dempsey, a worldwide law firm based in Washington,
D.C. He is also a member of the faculty at Case-Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is a senior visiting scholar at
the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.
On November 6, 1968, Louis Stokes was elected to the United States
Congress on his first bid for public office.
[[Page H523]]
By virtue of his election, he became the first African American Member
of Congress from the State of Ohio. First sworn in at the 91st
Congress, Congressman Stokes served 15 consecutive terms in the United
States House of Representatives. When he retired at the end of the
105th Congress, he became the first African American in the history of
the United States Congress to retire having completed 30 years in
office.
In the 105th Congress, Representative Stokes was a member of the
Committee on Appropriations where, by virtue of his seniority, he was
the third-ranking minority member of the full committee and the ranking
minority member of the Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent
Agencies. In addition, he served as a member of the Subcommittee on
Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.
He was the ninth Ranking Democratic Member of Congress. By virtue of
his seniority, Congressman Stokes also served as the Dean of the Ohio
Congressional Delegation. He is also a founding member of
the Congressional Black Caucus and chaired the CBC Health Braintrust.
He was born February 23, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio to the late Charles
and Louise Stokes. His father died when he was a young boy and Louis
and his brother, the late Ambassador Carl B. Stokes, were reared by
their young widowed mother.
Stokes was educated in the Cleveland public schools, graduating from
Central High School. Following 3 years in the United States Army, from
1943 to 1946, he returned to Cleveland and utilized the G.I. bill to
attend Western Reserve University. He received his Doctor of Laws
degree from Cleveland Marshall Law School in 1953.
Prior to his election to the United States Congress, Congressman
Stokes practiced law for 14 years in Cleveland. He was chief trial
counsel for the firm of Stokes, Character, Terry, Perry, Whitehead,
Young and Davidson. As a practicing lawyer, Representative Stokes
participated in three cases in the United States Supreme Court,
including the landmark ``stop and frisk'' case of Terry versus Ohio.
Congressman Stokes' younger brother, the late Carl B. Stokes, made
history in 1967 when he was elected mayor of Cleveland, serving with
distinction as the first black mayor of a major American city. Carl
Stokes also enjoyed a career as an award-winning broadcaster and
municipal court judge. In 1994, he was appointed by President Bill
Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles. Ambassador
Stokes died in April 1996.
Louise Stokes, a proud mother who always encouraged her sons to get
an education, lived to witness many of her sons' historic achievements.
Prior to her death in 1978, she was the recipient of numerous awards,
including Cleveland's ``Woman of the Year'' award in 1968 and Ohio's
``Mother of the Year'' award in 1969.
Let us talk a little bit about Congressman Louis Stokes'
congressional career. In his first term in public office, he served as
a member of the Committee on Education and Labor in the House,
Committee on un-American Activities, later renamed the House Committee
on Internal Security.
In his second term, he was appointed the first African American to
sit on the Committee on Appropriations in the House. On February 8,
1972, Louis Stokes was elected as the chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus. He served two consecutive terms.
In addition to his seat on the powerful Committee on Appropriations,
on February 5, 1975, he was elected by the Democratic Caucus to serve
on the newly formed House Committee on Budget. He was re-elected to the
Committee on Budget twice, serving a total of 6 years.
On September 21, 1976, Representative Stokes was appointed by Speaker
Carl Albert to serve on the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
The committee had a mandate to conduct an investigation and study of
the circumstances surrounding the deaths of President John F. Kennedy
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On March 8, 1977, Speaker Thomas P.
O'Neill appointed Congressman Stokes as chairman of this committee. On
December 31, 1978, Congressman Stokes completed these historic
investigations and filed with the House of Representatives 27 volumes
of hearings, a final report, and recommendations for administrative and
legislative reform.
In February of 1980, in the 96th Congress, Congressman Stokes was
appointed by Speaker O'Neill to the House Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct, also known as the Ethics Committee. In the 97th,
98th, and 102nd Congresses, he was elected chairman of this committee.
Also, in the 101st Congress, Representative Stokes was appointed by
Speaker Wright to serve on the Ethics Task Force.
In February of 1983, the 98th Congress, Representative Stokes was
appointed by Speaker O'Neill to the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence. In the 99th Congress, Representative Stokes was elected
chairman of the Subcommittee on Program and Budget Authorization for
the committee. In January of 1987, the 100th Congress, House Speaker
Jim Wright appointed Congressman Stokes as chairman of the Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence. In the 100th Congress, Representative
Stokes was also appointed to serve on the House Select Committee to
Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, and the Pepper
Commission on Comprehensive Health Care.
As a result of the 1990 census and the redistricting mandate in 1992,
the 21st Congressional District of Ohio was redesignated as the 11th
Congressional District. In the 103rd Congress, which commenced in
January of 1993, Congressman Stokes was elected to chair the House
Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent
Agencies. He also served as a member of the Subcommittee on Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education, and the Subcommittee on the
District of Columbia.
Congressman Stokes is married to Jeanette (Jay) Stokes. He has
children: Shelley, Angela, Louis, and Lorene. Angela is an elected
official in Cleveland in the Cleveland municipal court. Shelley and
Louis C. are both involved in broadcasting, one in New York and the
other in Michigan.
He has several grandchildren. He is a graduate of the Cleveland
public schools, Case-Western Reserve University, and Cleveland Marshall
College of Law where he received his doctor of law.
He has been given numerous designations and honors, among them, the
100 Most Influential Black Americans/ Black Achievement Award. The
Louis Stokes Bridge was named in his honor, which is a bridge over Lake
Shore Boulevard over Euclid Creek; Louis Stokes Telecommunications
Center/Cuyahoga Community College; the Central High School Hall of
Fame; the Louis Stokes Community Center; the Louis Stokes Wing of the
Cleveland Public Library. A street is called Stokes Boulevard in the
city of Cleveland named after him and his brother. There is a Louis
Stokes Health Sciences Center at Case-Western Reserve University. There
is a Louis Stokes HUD Hall of Fame. He has been given the award by the
National Minority Transplant Hall of Fame. There is a Louis Stokes Head
Start Day Care Center. There is a Stokes Rapid Transit Station in
Windermere. There is a Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library at Howard
University. There is a Stokes Web site.
There is a Stokes Family Library and Museum, which is housed at the
Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority in the area where Congressman
Stokes grew up as a boy. There is a Louis Stokes Cleveland Department
of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. There is a Louis Stokes building at
the National Institutes of Health.
He has received more than 23 honorary degrees from colleges and
universities across this country.
I would like to particularly personally pay tribute to Congressman
Louis Stokes. It is through his support and encouragement that I stand
here on the floor of the House of Representatives today. I can only
recall with great admiration all of the wonderful things that he did on
my behalf and on behalf of the 11th Congressional District. For me to
be able to stand, the daughter of a skycap for United Airlines and the
daughter of a woman who worked in a factory, standing here as a Member
of the House of Representatives, one of 39 African Americans who serve
in the House of Representatives, and in fact the first African American
woman to serve in the House of Representatives from the State of Ohio.
[[Page H524]]
It gives me great pleasure to be able to recognize and give
Congressman Stokes his roses while he can still smell them on this
February 29, the year 2000, as the CBC honors Black History Month.
Former Congressman Louis Stokes
Former Congressman Louis Stokes retired from Congress on
January 2, 1999. He is currently Senior Counsel at Squire,
Sanders and Dempsey L.L.P., a world-wide law firm based in
Washington, D.C. He is also a member of the faculty at Case-
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, where he is
Senior Visiting Scholar at the Mandel School of Applied
Social Sciences.
On November 6, 1968, Louis Stokes was elected to the United
States Congress on his first bid for public office. By virtue
of his election, he became the first African American Member
of Congress from the State of Ohio. First sworn in at the
91st Congress, Representative Stokes served fifteen
consecutive terms in the United States House of
Representatives. When he retired at the end of the 105th
Congress, he became the first African American in the history
of the U.S. Congress to retire having completed 30 years in
office.
In the 105th Congress, Representative Stokes was a member
of the Appropriations Committee where, by virtue of his
seniority, he was the third ranking minority member of the
full committee, and the ranking minority member of the
Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban
Development-Independent Agencies. In addition, he served as a
member of the Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human
Services-Education. In the Congress, Representative Stokes
ranked eleventh overall in House seniority. He was the ninth
ranking Democratic Member of Congress. By virtue of his
seniority, Congressman Stokes also served as Dean of the Ohio
Congressional Delegation. He is also a founding member of the
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and chaired the CBC Health
Braintrust.
Background
Congressman Stokes was born on February 23, 1925, in
Cleveland, Ohio, to the late Charles and Louise Stokes. His
father died when he was a young boy and Louis and his
brother, the late Ambassador Carl B. Stokes, were reared by
their young widowed mother. Stokes was educated in the
Cleveland Public Schools, graduating from Central High
School. Following three years in the United States Army from
1943 to 1946, he returned to Cleveland and utilized the G.I.
Bill to attend Western Reserve University. He received his
Doctor of Laws Degree from Cleveland Marshall Law School in
1953.
Prior to his election to the United States Congress,
Congressman Stokes practiced law for fourteen years in
Cleveland. He was chief trial counsel for the firm of Stokes,
Character, Terry, Perry, Whitehead, Young and Davidson. As a
practicing lawyer, Representative Stokes participated in
three cases in the United States Supreme Court, including the
landmark ``stop and frisk'' case of Terry v. Ohio.
Congressman Stokes' younger brother, the late Carl B.
Stokes, made history in 1967 when he was elected Mayor of
Cleveland, serving with distinction as the first black mayor
of a major American city. Carl Stokes also enjoyed a career
as an award-winning broadcaster and municipal court judge. In
1994, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S.
Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles. Ambassador Stokes
died in April 1996. Louise Stokes, a proud mother who always
encouraged her sons to get an education, lived to witness
many of her sons' historic achievements. Prior to her death
in 1978, she was the recipient of numerous awards including
Cleveland's ``Woman of the Year'' award in 1968 and Ohio's
``Mother of the Year'' award in 1969.
congressional career
During his first term in public office (91st Congress),
Congressman Stokes served as a member of the Education and
Labor Committee and the House Un-American Activities
Committee, later re-named the House Internal Security
Committee. In his second term in office (92nd Congress), he
was appointed the first black Member ever to sit on the
Appropriations Committee of the House. On February 8, 1972,
Louis Stokes was elected as Chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus. He served two consecutive terms in this office.
In addition to his seat on the powerful Appropriations
Committee, on February 5, 1975, he was elected by the
Democratic Caucus to serve on the newly formed Budget
Committee of the House. He was re-elected to the Budget
Committee twice, serving a total of six years.
On September 21, 1976 (94th Congress) Representative Stokes
was appointed by Speaker Carl Albert to serve on the House
Select Committee on Assassinations. The Committee had a
mandate to conduct an investigation and study of the
circumstances surrounding the deaths of President John F.
Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On March 8, 1977,
Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill appointed Congressman Stokes as
Chairman of this committee. On December 31, 1978, Congressman
Stokes completed these historic investigations and filed with
the House of Representatives 27 volumes of hearings, a Final
Report and Recommendations for Administrative and Legislative
Reform.
In February of 1980 (96th Congress), Congress Stokes was
appointed by Speaker O'Neill to the House Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics Committee). In the
97th, 98th, and 102nd Congresses, he was elected Chairman of
this committee. Also, in the 101st Congress, Representative
Stokes was appointed by Speaker Wright to serve on the Ethics
Task Force.
In February of 1983 (98th Congress), Representative Stokes
was appointed by Speaker O'Neill to the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence. In the 99th Congress,
Representative Stokes was elected Chairman of the
Subcommittee on Program and Budget Authorization for the
committee. In January of 1987 (100th Congress), House Speaker
Jim Wright appointed Congressman Stokes as Chairman of the
Intelligence Committee. In the 100th Congress, Representative
Stokes was also appointed to serve on the House Select
Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran,
and the Pepper Commission on Comprehensive Health Care.
As a result of the 1990 census and the redistricting
mandate, in 1992 the 21st Congressional District of Ohio was
re-designated as the 11th Congressional District. In the
103rd Congress, which commenced in January of 1993,
Congressman Stokes was elected to chair the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD-Independent Agencies.
He also served as a member of the Subcommittee on Labor-
Health and Human Services-Education and the Subcommittee on
the District of Columbia.
personal information
Birthdate: February 23, 1925.
Wife: Jeanette (Jay) Stokes.
Children: Shelley, Angela, Louis C. and Lorene.
Grandchildren: Brett S., Eric S., and Grant W. Hammond;
Kelley C. and Kimberly L. Stokes; Alexandra F. and Nicolette
S. Thompson.
Education: Cleveland Public Schools (Giddings and Central
High School), Western Reserve University, Cleveland Marshall
Law School (The Cleveland State University)--Doctor of
Jurisprudence.
designations and honors
Throughout his tenure in the United States Congress,
Representatives Stokes has played a pivotal role in the quest
for civil rights, equality and social and economic justice.
He is the recipient of countless awards and honors which
recognize his strong leadership and commitment.
100 Most Influential Black Americans/Black Achievement
Award. Each year since 1971, Congressman Stokes has been
named by Ebony Magazine as one of the ``100 Most Influential
Black Americans.'' In 1979, he was nominated by Ebony in
three categories for the Second Annual American Black
Achievement Awards. His nomination was based upon his
becoming the first African American to head a major
congressional investigation and to preside over nationally
televised hearings which revealed new facts on the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President
John F. Kennedy.
William Dawson Award. Congressman Stokes has twice received
the Congressional Black Caucus' William L. Dawson Award. In
1980, Congressman Stokes was presented the prestigious award
in recognition of his ``unique leadership in the development
of legislation.'' In 1994, he received the second Dawson
Award for ``significant research, organizational and
leadership contributions in the development of legislation
that addresses the needs of minorities in the United States.
Louis Stokes Bridge. On June 24 1988, the Board of County
Commissioners Cuyahoga County dedicated the Lake Shore
Boulevard Bridge over Euclid Creek as the ``Louis Stokes
Bridge,'' in recognition of Congressman Stokes' leadership in
public service, and his support for federal funding to
support road and bridge improvement projects.
Louis Stokes Telecommunications Center/Cuyahoga Community
College. On September 24, 1988, Cuyahoga Community College
designated the Louis Stokes Telecommunications Center in the
Unified Technologies Center in honor of Congressman Stokes.
Central High School Hall of Fame. On March 30, 1990,
Congressman Stokes' alma mater, Central High School (now
Central Middle School) recognized his historic achievements
by presenting him with the school's Alumnus Award and
including him into the school's Hall of Fame. On that
occasion, the school also dedicated its auditorium as the
``Louis Stokes Auditorium.''
Louis Stokes Community Center. On September 5, 1992, in
recognition of the achievements of Ohio's first and only
African American to serve in the United States Congress, the
community center in Outhwaite Homes was renamed as the
``Louis Stokes Community Center'' by the Cuyahoga
Metropolitan Housing Authority.
Louis Stokes Wing/Cleveland Public Library. On January 19,
1994, the Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees
unanimously adopted a resolution to name the new Cleveland
Public Library East Wing in honor of Congressman Stokes. The
resolution stated that his career ``has extended into areas
of law, civil rights, support for education and public
libraries, and congressional, national and local leadership
on a wide range of issues important to the Cleveland area and
the nation.''
Stokes Boulevard--Cleveland, Ohio. To mark Congressman
Stokes' historic achievements in the United States Congress,
the City of Cleveland voted on June 6, 1994 to designate East
107th Street and portion of
[[Page H525]]
Fairhill Road as ``Stokes Boulevard.'' Appropriate signs mark
this special salute to Congressman Stokes.
Case Western Reserve University/Louis Stokes Health
Sciences Center. Case Western Reserve University honored
Congressman Stokes on June 24, 1994 with the dedication of
the ``Louis Stokes Health Science Center.'' Congressman
Stokes was lauded for his work ``to improve the lives of all
Americans and to ensure the full participation of members of
minority groups in the many initiatives in health, science,
education, and public welfare.''
Louis Stokes HUD ``Hall of Fame.'' On April 5, 1995, the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inducted
Congressman Stokes into the nation's first ``Public Housing
Hall of Fame.'' Located in HUD's Washington, D.C.
Headquarters, the Hall of Fame recognizes Congressman Stokes
as a strong advocate of safe and affordable housing for
America's families.
National Minority Transplant Hall of Fame. On September 18,
1996, Congressman Stokes was chosen for inclusion in the
first National Minority Transplant Hall of Fame. The
designation recognizes Stokes' strong leadership in the area
of organ transplant education and awareness.
Louis Stokes Head Start Day Care Center. Dedicated during
the weekend of June 20, 1997, the ``Louis Stokes Head Start
Center'' was built specifically to serve the needs of pre-
school children in the Metropolitan Cleveland Area. The
Center was named for Congressman Stokes for his dedication in
fighting for the rights of Cleveland's disadvantaged.
Stokes Rapid Transit Station/Windermere. On November 17,
1997, Cleveland's Regional Transit Authority designated the
Windermere Rapid Transit Station as the ``Louis Stokes
Station at Windermere'' in honor of Congressman Stokes for
his support for public transit.
Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library/Howard University.
Howard University voted to recognize Congressman Stokes for
his strong leadership in the United States Congress. On
August 11, 1998, Howard University paid tribute to ``one of
our nation's most prolific Members of Congress'' by naming
their new health sciences library ``The Louis Stokes Health
Science Center.''
Stokes Web Site. On August 11, 1998, top executives from
Cleveland's business community announced that a web site will
be set up in Congressman Stokes' name to inform young people
of internships, scholarships and job training opportunities.
The site will be called the ``Living Legacy Project: Aim
High.'' Stokes was known for autographing photos for young
students with the phrase ``Aim High!''
The Stokes Family Library and Museum. Unveiled during
Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's Louis Stokes Day
1998, on September 12, 1998, Congressman Stokes' boyhood home
in the Outhwaite housing projects will be transformed into
the ``Stokes Family Library and Museum.'' The Library will
serve as a home for many of the Congressman's awards and
memorabilia for organizations around the country.
Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran Affairs
Medical Center. On October 6, 1998, on the floor of the
United States House of Representatives, Congressman Stokes
was honored with the naming of the Cleveland Department of
Veteran Affairs Medical Center in his honor. The designation
recognizes a lawmaker who worked tirelessly on behalf of the
nation's veterans and other citizens throughout his 30-year
career.
Louis Stokes Building, National Institutes of Health. On
October 20, 1998, the House of Representatives voted for
passage of an Omnibus Appropriations Bill to fund the
Departments of Labor-Health and Human Services-Education. The
bill includes language designating Building #50, the
Consolidated Laboratories Building on the campus of the
National Institutes of Health, in honor of Congressman
Stokes. The renaming honors Congressman Stokes for his
staunch leadership on the health front.
Honorary Degrees. Congressman Stokes is the recipient of 23
honorary Degrees from colleges and universities across the
nation. The degrees were conferred upon Congressman Stokes in
recognition of his national leadership and strong commitment
to public service.
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentlewoman
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs.
Jones) for yielding to me. Even more so, I thank her for the leadership
she is showing in making sure that the month of February does not go by
without yet another black history celebration in the name of her
predecessor, I must say who was always in charge of this particular
feature on the House floor when he was here.
{time} 1445
And you follow in his footsteps in many ways, I say to the
gentlewoman from Ohio, and this is a wonderful one which both honors
him and to make sure that the Congressional Black Caucus is once again
heard on this floor for Black History Month and all that it stands for.
If I may say to the gentlewoman, I would like to discuss two subjects
this afternoon related to black history. One is some finished business
that this House finished only this month, and the other is tragically
unfinished.
The finished business has to do with a bill that was passed on the
floor on February 16 that will allow the home of Carter G. Woodson to
become a national historic site under the National Park Service. The
reason that this was so important is that Carter G. Woodson is the
father of black history, the man who discovered black historiography,
the second black person to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard in the early
part of this century, and yet his house, which is a gorgeous Victorian
house, stands closed, virtually boarded up.
So here we are celebrating Black History Month every year and right
there in the Shaw district, a historic part of the district which was
the virtual seat of black America, is the home of the man who is
responsible for what was, when I was a child called Negro History Week
and has developed into Black History Month, closed. With the bill that
the House passed just before we recessed, Carter G. Woodson's home will
be open to the public the way Frederick Douglass' home is open to the
public in this city and the way that Mary McLeod Bethune's home is open
to the public, and will be kept open under the National Park Service,
as it deserves.
This man was of immense importance. Without uncovering black history
we could never have gotten to the civil rights remedies, because the
portrayals of African Americans were so pervasively stereotyped and
negative after slavery, with Jim Crow and all that it stood for, that
Carter G. Woodson's work looms much larger than life. He started the
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which continues
his work today. They would like to occupy this house when it is fully
renovated. He used his house not only to live but to train researchers.
It is a glorious history in and of itself.
May I say to the gentlewoman, I would like to remark on some
unfinished business having to do with African Americans. This is a
majority black city. Historically it was the capital of black
intellectual life because of Howard University and because freed and
runaway slaves often found their way here. The Capitol where we now
debate was built with the help of slave labor. A glorious kind of
intellectual leadership emanated from this city. It always had a large
black population, probably because it was so close to the South and,
therefore, there was a large segment of freed slaves and a large
segment of runaway slaves, one of whom was my great grandfather.
This city has been the home of Benjamin Banneker, who of course
helped design the city, and of many great African Americans; Charles
Drew, who is responsible for the discovery of the blood bank and the
use of stored blood; Duke Ellington, whose 100th birthday we celebrated
last year; Frederick Douglass; Mary McLeod Bethune; Senator Edward
Brooke, who graduated from the same high school I graduated from,
Dunbar High School; and yet, Madam Speaker, this is the only part of
the United States where black and white people do not enjoy the full
privileges of citizenship.
This used to be the place where people from the South came escaping
the harshness of segregation and terrible discrimination. We who live
in the District, particularly we who are native Washingtonians, have
seen the whole of the South come into its own, with people able to
vote, as models for self-government throughout the South, and yet in
this town, where the majority of the population is African American,
there is still not the same basic rights that blacks throughout the
South have finally been able to win.
I am the only representative of the District of Columbia. Although I
won the right to vote on the House floor, that vote was taken from me
when the majority assumed power. We do not have a full voting
representative in this House. We have no voting representative in this
House. Does this not sound like the Old South? This is the new capital.
This is the capital of the United States I am talking about.
There is rage in this town, particularly because more than 60 percent
of the people are African Americans and have seen their folks down home
come
[[Page H526]]
into full citizenship, while in this town we still exist without the
basic rights that everybody else takes for granted. We saw the
Congressional Black Caucus expanded by 50 percent, largely from people
from the old Confederate States, sent here by whites and African
Americans; and yet we cannot send a full voting Member to this House,
even though we pay full Federal income tax.
What we have done is to sue in court. And I say to my colleagues,
every time an attempt is made to attach a rider to the appropriation of
the District of Columbia, consisting of our money not these other
Members, democracy is defamed in the United States. And that is why my
colleagues will see me on this floor and will always see me on this
floor as long as I am a Member of this House reminding my fellow
colleagues of that defamation of democracy. The court suit we have
brought intends to rectify this situation, since we have not been able
to get it rectified in this body.
Some have said that the reason the District has never had its full
rights is because of its large African American population. I am not so
sure of that. Until the 1970s, this city was majority white. The city,
the Jim Crow-segregated city in which I grew up, the segregated schools
that I went to, was in a majority white city, and this body was willing
to deny those whites their full rights in the House, the Senate, and
their full home rule as much as they are willing to deny it to blacks.
And yet there may well be something to the notion that the city
always had a large black population. If we look at the history books,
that seems to have influenced the way the Congress looked at the
District of Columbia. Well, the Congress needs to take that taint off
of it. It needs to grant my white constituents and my black
constituents the same rights that their white constituents, their
Hispanic constituents, and their black constituents have.
Until that happens, until that happens I will not, I will not let an
appropriate opportunity go by to remind this body that we have not
lived up to our stated ideals. One appropriate time to inject that
reminder into the record is during Black History Month, in a largely
black city where black citizens and white citizens and citizens of
every background wait, no longer patiently, but wait for the same
rights that many other Americans have.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, as part of our special hour I
would now like to yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for
yielding to me, and I also want to thank the gentlewoman from
Washington, D.C. for her words.
There is absolutely no question that she is absolutely right, and we
in the Congressional Black Caucus and many others in this great body
stand with her and behind her. And I want to commend her for constantly
keeping an issue that is so significant and very important, and one
that shows the contradictions of this country and what we are doing in
this Congress, shows it up so clearly. I want to thank her for all that
she does every day to keep us aware of the situation that we find
ourselves in in the very place where we write the laws. So I thank her.
I want to go on to say, Madam Speaker, that this month, through a
series of Dear Colleague Letters, I saluted several famous African
American Marylanders, and today I rise again to recognize African
Americans from my home district of Baltimore, Maryland, for their
significant contributions to the American political and educational
process, and for distinguishing themselves as the first African
Americans to achieve in their chosen professions.
The recognition of these individuals comes as we nationally observe
Black History Month. This year's theme, Heritage and Horizons, the
African American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century, is most
appropriate to these Baltimorians who, by accepting the challenges and
overcoming the obstacles of their day, have prepared us to meet the
challenges facing us in this new millennium.
I cite Roberta B. Sheridan, the daughter of a life-long resident of
Baltimore and educated as a teacher. She was dedicated to public
education. Even though she was denied the opportunity to teach in the
black public schools, because African Americans at that time were
deemed unqualified, she persisted in her efforts. With the help of the
African American community, a campaign was waged to allow African
Americans to teach in black public schools. This campaign resulted in
the appointment of Roberta Sheridan in 1888 as the first African
American teacher in a Baltimore City public school. Indeed, in the
State of Maryland.
Her goal was to ensure that African Americans received a quality
education, and she sought to end the educational inadequacies fostered
by white teachers who dominated the education of blacks following the
Civil War.
I also cite Harry S. Cummings, no relation, from Baltimore's ward 11,
one of the two first African American males to graduate from the
University of Maryland School of Law in 1889. Mr. Cummings' career
focused on the legal, educational, and political professions. He was
known as the father of the Colored Polytechnic Institute because he
introduced a measure for establishing this educational facility and
other high schools for African Americans in this area.
Politically he was successful in becoming the first African American
to be elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1890. In 1904, he had
the distinction of seconding the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt at
the Republican National Convention in Chicago. He received acclaim for
his speech. In 1907, he was again elected to a 4-year term to the
Baltimore City Council, representing the 17th ward. He served two
additional terms in 1911 and 1915. As a fellow University of Maryland
graduate, I am pleased to honor him.
I also cite Thurgood Marshall, lawyer and product of a Baltimore
black middle class and the impetus for the Civil Rights movement in the
United States. Beginning his career, he served as counsel to the
Baltimore branch of the NAACP. He argued cases before the United States
Supreme Court 32 times, winning 29 cases. He is probably most famous
for Brown versus Board of Education, which we won in 1954.
{time} 1500
With this success, doors were opened ending segregated schools and
educational inequalities for African Americans. Using the legal
process, Thurgood Marshall's legacy was to ensure that African
Americans would no longer be excluded from participating in the
American fabric because of discrimination.
When asked for a definition of ``equal,'' Marshall stated, ``Equal
means getting the same thing at the same time in the same place.''
Thurgood Marshall's achievements culminated in his appointment as the
Nation's first African American Supreme Court justice on August 30,
1967. Because of his achievements, I have urged adoption of my
resolution urging the United States Postal Service to issue a
commemorative stamp in his honor because he is immediately deserving of
this recognition.
Finally, I cite Parren J. Mitchell, a native Baltimorean, who
represents several firsts. He was the first African American to
graduate from the University of Maryland Graduate School with a
master's degree in sociology. Coming from a family involved in local
politics and community affairs, he embarked upon an educational, human
resources, and political career. He was Maryland's first black
Representative to the United States House of Representatives from
Baltimore's 7th Congressional District and one of my predecessors to
this body.
Elected to the 92d Congress beginning in 1971, he remained in the
House for seven succeeding Congresses until 1987. He enjoyed a
successful Congressional career, serving as chairman of the Committee
on Small Business for the 97th, 98th, and 99th Congresses. He was
instrumental in the formation of the House Black Caucus, now known as
the Congressional Black Caucus, to bring to the attention of Congress
and the President of the United States legislative concerns primarily
affecting African Americans.
I am honored to recognize these African Americans from my district of
Baltimore who were the firsts, who dared to meet the challenges of
their day, who paved the way and opened doors to ensure equal
opportunities for African
[[Page H527]]
Americans and their succeeding generations. Indeed, they represent a
legacy that gives us hope and confirmation that African Americans
continue to succeed and contribute to this wonderful American
structure.
As we live today, as we look at our pasts, and as we look to our
future, we can take pride in the rich heritage that these individuals
have bequeathed to all of us as Americans.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure at this
time to yield to the gentleman from Chicago (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very
much for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I want to first of all thank the gentlewoman from
California (Mrs. Jones) for organizing this special order and certainly
for giving me the opportunity to share in it with her and the
gentlewoman from Washington, D.C. (Ms. Norton) and the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Cummings).
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in paying tribute
to the rich legacy and heritage that our ancestors have contributed to
American life. I want to use the few minutes that I have to pay homage
to the African American church.
There are many outstanding religious institutions in the district
that I live and represent, notwithstanding even the one that I hold
membership in, the New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, under the
leadership of the Reverend Charlie Murray, where they let me serve as a
member of the deacon board sometimes when I am there.
But I really want to use the few minutes that I have to pay homage to
two other churches, Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church,
under the leadership of Reverend Thomas Higgonbotham, and the First
Baptist Congregational Church, under the leadership of Dr. Arthur
Griffin, both located in the 7th Congressional District of Illinois.
These two churches have followed the historical tradition of the
black church as being the most stable, viable, and reliable entity in
black life. Throughout slavery, segregation, black codes, and
injustice, the church has served as the major instrument for hope and
for change. It was the black church that produced some of our greatest
leaders, educators, theologians, scientists, and administrators.
Quinn Chapel was formed in 1847 under the leadership of the Reverend
George Johnson. The church was named in honor of the renowned Bishop
William Paul Quinn. Bishop Quinn was one of the most prolific circuit-
riding preachers in the 1800s 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 stop on the Underground Railroad. For over 150 years during
race riots, depressions, recessions, 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.
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 United States hospital where African American nurses
could be trained and employed.
In addition, it was Quinn Chapel who initiated in 1898 the first
known retirement home for African Americans. Most recently, Quinn
Chapel was one of the locations that hosted a regional Congressional
Black Caucus hearing on law enforcement misconduct.
Similarly, the First Baptist Congregational Church, formally known as
the Union Park Congregational Church, was founded in 1851 under the
leadership of Philo Carpenter. Philo Carpenter and a group of 48
abolitionist members left the parent church, the Third Presbyterian,
over the issue of slavery. The departing members felt that the General
Assembly had not adopted a strong enough position against slavery.
Ironically, the church also served as a stop along the Underground
Railroad.
Carpenter was Chicago's first druggist, opening a drugstore in a
small log home on the bank of the river at the point that is now Lake
Street. In addition to meeting the congregants' need for spirituality,
the church was instrumental in forming several institutions of higher
learning.
Among the black colleges founded by this church include Dilliard
University in Louisiana, Fisk University in Tennessee, LeMoyne-Owen
College in Tennessee, Talladega College in Alabama, Tougaloo College in
Mississippi, and Huston-Tillotson College in Texas.
Obviously, these colleges represent some of the finest institutions
of higher education. And so this church like Quinn Chapel has been
instrumental in shaping the minds of some of our greatest thinkers and
leaders.
I attended a meeting just last week of another church at the Rock of
Ages Missionary Baptist Church in Maywood, Illinois, where Reverend
Marvin Wiley had more than a thousand residents come out to talk about
community development.
I also take this opportunity to highlight the work of Reverend Bill
Winston at the Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park, Illinois.
Madam Speaker, these churches have all helped to set the standards by
which other institutions have learned to live. Even today, they
continue to inspire through the three cornerstones of life: faith,
hope, and love. Because of the contributions of Quinn Chapel AME and
First Baptist Congregational, Chicago is indeed a better place in which
to live. But more importantly, the United States of America and people
throughout the world have benefited from the shining light that has
emanated from these institutions.
And so I thank my colleague for the opportunity to share this moment
with her and again commend her for putting this special order together.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Davis) and all my other colleagues for supporting me in
this process.
I am expecting a couple more of my colleagues, so I am going to
proceed with a few more things that I have in front of me until they
get here.
It is appropriate today that I recognize or memorialize from the 11th
Congressional District of Ohio a gentleman by the name of Gus Joiner.
Mr. Joiner's funeral is today at the Second Tabernacle Baptist Church
in Cleveland, Ohio. Unfortunately, I could not be there. But it would
be appropriate at this time that I talk a little bit about Mr. Joiner
right here on the floor of the Congress.
``Gus Joiner, a former union organizer,'' and this comes from the
obituary section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, ``who became chairman
of the Legislative Committee of the Federation of Retired Workers in
Cleveland, died Friday at Hospice of the Western Reserve.
The 90-year-old Cleveland resident spent his life fighting
unfair labor practices, racism and injustice. He also
encouraged others to stand up for their rights.
Mr. Joiner, who worked for the Euclid Road Machinery Co.
from the 1940s to the 1970s, once went to court to force the
independent union at the company to allow non-Caucasians into
its ranks. Later, he was instrumental in bringing his fellow
workers under the umbrella of the United Auto Workers as
Local 426.
After retiring in 1976, he joined the Federation of Retired
Workers and spoke out on behalf of senior citizens throughout
Greater Cleveland. He showed up at Cleveland City Council
committee meetings to share his views on pending legislation
and attended hearings to protest the rising cost of
utilities.
His most recent crusade was to preserve Madonna Hall, an
inner-city nursing home, as a charitable asset of the State
of Ohio. Mr. Joiner, chairman of the nursing home's board
until stepping down from the unpaid position in 1997, led the
trustees' battle against attempts by the home's landlords to
claim ownership and sell the nursing home.
``He was the crusader,'' said Mary Davis, the lawyer who
represented him in a lawsuit filed in conjunction with the
case. ``He had a sense of what was right and what was fair.
It's not that often you see somebody willing to risk
themselves for what's right or put themselves on the line for
what they believe in. He was a person of such extraordinary
faith that everything is going to work out OK. When you look
at the difficulty of his life, he turned to joy, thanksgiving
and celebration rather than bitterness.''
Mr. Joiner, an Alabama native, was a teenager when he
started working at a coal company's coke yard in Virginia. He
moved on to Chicago to work in the stockyards, but was laid
off during the Depression. For a while, he hopped freight
trains and rode the rails in search of work.
[[Page H528]]
In the 1930s, he joined relatives in West Virginia, where
he worked in the coal mines and organized labor unions under
volatile circumstances. As a local officer and organizer with
the United Mine Workers out of Fairmount, W. Va., he once
chaired the speakers' platform with legendary UMW President
John L. Lewis at a state convention. Mr. Joiner also worked
undercover to help organize unions in the western
Pennsylvania communities of Johnstown and Uniontown.
During World War II, he worked in the Navy yard in Norfolk,
Va. By the mid-1940s, he was in Cleveland and working at
Euclid Road Machinery.
Mr. Joiner considered voting not only a right, but a
responsibility. He voted in every primary and general
election for 66 years, including the general election of
November 1999.
He had been church treasurer, Audit Committee chairman and
trustees secretary at the Second Tabernacle Baptist Church in
Cleveland, where he was a member for more than 50 years. In
1972, he was named the parish's Man of the Year. He also was
a trustee of the United Black Fund.
When his children were younger, Mr. Joiner participated in
PTA activities at John Hay High School, where he complained
about the better resources given to the white West Side
schools.
``He was an advocate for us if we had any trouble or
problem at school,'' said his daughter, Margaret of
Cleveland. ``That same zeal he used to make sure the little
person wasn't trampled, he used to defend his children.''
Mr. Joiner and his wife, Mildred, who died 15 years ago,
raised seven daughters and a son.
In addition to Margaret, Mr. Joiner is survived by
daughters, Mary Heard, Betty Pittman, Barbara, Victoria and
Kathryn, all of Cleveland, and Carolyn Williams of Albany,
N.Y.; son, Franklin of Cleveland; 12 grandchildren; 14 great-
grandchildren; and a sister.
I stand here with pride, even on the day of the memorial services of
Mr. Joiner, to talk about this wonderful 90-year-old man that I knew
all the time that I grew up in the city of Cleveland, as well as part
of my public life. I am glad that I had the opportunity to get to know
him as well as to memorialize him in the Record of the United States
Congress.
{time} 1515
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentlewoman
from Indiana (Ms. Carson).
Ms. CARSON. I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) a member
of this august body for whom I have the greatest admiration and the
respect for in terms of her commitment to justice and equality for all
people. I am very happy that my distinguished colleague has allowed me
to be just a very brief part of this black history celebration in the
month of February that was inspired by Carter G. Woodson many years
ago, first as the Negro History Week, if you will, and later extended
to a whole month.
It is ironic, I believe, that it is in the shortest month of the
year, that is, the month of February, given that we have so many
virtues to extol of so many African Americans who have done a yeoman's
job in building this great Nation in which we all enjoy freedom. Very
briefly, let me pay a special tribute to a young man, a young man who
at the age of 108 years old just last year made his transition, Dr.
John Morton-Finney.
At the time of his transition he was believed to be the oldest
practicing attorney in the whole United States. But even more
importantly, John Morton-Finney was the first teacher to join the staff
of Crispus Attucks High School when it was opened in 1927, an African
American school in my district for which I am a proud graduate that was
built on the bedlam of racism but indeed produced some of the most
outstanding scholars and noted sportsmen that this country has ever
known.
John Morton-Finney finally had the education center in Indianapolis
named for him after a year of my insistence that began because John
Morton-Finney's work, his life, his legacy is a hallmark in terms of
the contributions of African Americans in my particular district; and
it stands there as a beacon of hope, a beacon of testimony, a beacon of
illustration of what people can be if they decide that that is what
they want to be.
John Morton-Finney had over 30 earned degrees. He headed up the
language department. He was a quasi-scientist, quasi-inventor and just
a noble, noble individual. I am so happy that our school board in
Indianapolis finally got around to paying due where due was certainly
earned because in the course of an ordinary life, many of us would
leave some things undone, but in the life of John Morton-Finney it is a
challenge to figure out what in the world it was that he did not do or
what it was that he left unaccomplished and that is merely one of the
qualities of his life so worth celebrating, especially in this month of
African American history celebration for their contributions. I want to
thank my colleagues that preceded me and thank the gentlewoman from
Ohio specifically for bringing this to the floor of the United States
Congress, to the ears and eyes of America and certainly for allowing
little old me from Indianapolis, Indiana to have just an
infinitesimally small part of this very vital process.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I would like to thank my colleague for being so
modest but as she sits here she is the one who had the idea of awarding
Rosa Parks the Gold Medal.
Madam Speaker, I await the chairman of the CBC, and so I have a poem
that I am going to attempt to do very quickly in his absence. The
author is Gloria Wade-Gayles. The poem is entitled And The Women
Gathered. I think it is appropriate that I do this poem right now
because it talks about black history and then we are on the brink of
the month of March, which happens to be Women's History Month as well.
I want to give my best at doing this piece of poetry. I would also
like to give appropriate credit to my former chief of staff, Marcia
Fudge, the national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., who
is now the mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio. It is as a result of
her love of poetry that I even learned about this particular poem. I
think Gloria Wade-Gayles does a fabulous job of writing. It is entitled
And the Women Gathered.
And The Women Gathered
(By Gloria Wade-Gayles)
And the women gathered.
And the women gathered.
And the women gathered.
Thin women
Stout women
Short women
Tall women
Young women
Not so young women
Flat chested women
Big bosomed women
Women with blue eyes
Green eyes
Brown eyes
Women with silky hair
Curly hair
Bleached hair
Permed hair
Graying hair
And the women gathered.
Coming by planes
Buses
Vans
Cars
Trains
And strong feet never tired
To gather for freedom
Married women
Divorced women
Single women
Widowed women
The Women Gathered
Cocoa
Cream
Nut brown
Beige
Caramel
Fudge
Blackberry black
As different as the stars that grace the night
The women gathered
As one constellation.
And the world took notice
That women are warriors
(Always have been even in the beginning)
And so they gathered as women will
In the very eye of the storm
Pushing against its fury
With their own
And the world took notice
That women birth babies
And revolutions
The women gathered
Ten thousand Rosas inspired by one
You saw them.
You saw them.
You saw them.
You saw them.
The world saw them.
Montage from the movement: Headlines
Montgomery, Alabama
December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress in Montgomery,
Alabama refused to surrender her seat to a white man
when ordered by a local bus driver. The Montgomery bus
boycott begins. Blacks walk, walk, and walk for freedom
and dignity.
Women were there.
Greensboro, North Carolina
February 1, 1960. Students sit in at lunch counters and are
refused service. Return. Are arrested.
A wave of sit-ins spreads to 15 cities in five southern
States.
[[Page H529]]
Women were there
May 4, 1961. The freedom rides begin. Blacks and whites ride
together on a chartered bus. Savage beatings, arson,
legal harassment.
Women were there.
Birmingham, April 3, 1963.
Bull Connor turns on water hoses and unleashes ferocious
dogs. Physical violence. Mass arrests.
Bombings.
Women were there.
Birmingham, September 15, 1963.
Four young black girls are killed in church bombing.
Mississippi, summer of 1964
Civil rights activists, blacks and whites invade the State,
registering voters establishing freedom Schools.
The South.
During the course of one year, 80 people were physically
assaulted, 30 buildings bombed, 1,000 arrested and five
murdered.
Women were there.
Throughout the movement,
Women sang the songs passionately.
``We shall not. We shall not be moved.
``Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom.
``Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round, turn me round.
``And before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave, and
go home to the Lord and be free.''
And the women gathered.
In need of empowerment for themselves but they gathered to
change the South.
They gathered because women do not sleep through nightmares.
We shall not call the roll.
It is as long as the Nile
Where civilization was born.
We shall not call the roll.
The women wore their courage
And not their names.
It is that way with women.
And so we say.
Women warriors
Trailblazers
Torchbearers
Activists
Thinkers
Movers and shakers
Dreamers
Revolutionaries
We salute you.
And we promise
That we will not
Sleep through the nightmares
Of homelessness, unemployment,
Poverty, violence against children, women, men, Ignorance
Oppression of all kinds.
We promise that
A new generation
Of women
Will gather.
We are that generation.
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, as we celebrate Black History Month, there
is much to celebrate. The economic climate is improving significantly.
African American businesses are borrowing, investing, and building
capital at record levels. For African Americans, median household
income is up, the poverty rate is sharply down, and the unemployment
rate is down to the lowest level on record (8.1 percent).
However, despite our economic progress and electoral gains, we still
have not achieved all we can. In addition to the disparity of income in
our country, one important area we must address is environmental
justice--a significant human rights issue for this century. The issue
of environmental justice stems from the concern that impoverished
communities, frequently comprised of people of color, suffer larger and
disproportionate environmental risks compared to other Americans. The
environmental justice movement also concerns inequality, including
wealth and income disparities, inadequate schools, gaps in medical
services, uneven economic opportunities and investment inequities.
In recent years, America has significantly improved its air and water
quality and reduced waste disposal and toxic chemicals. However, the
improvements have been uneven and the benefits skewed. These factors
cause troubling health problems and threaten all our other progress.
The fight for a healthy environment has been led by many local
grassroots leaders. In San Francisco, Linda Richardson has helped lead
the fight to address these problems and achieve environmental justice.
Mrs. Richardson founded Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice, a
San Francisco based environmental organization. She also is a member of
the San Francisco Planning Commission and an expert on the impact of
environmental pollutants on poor communities.
Her work has demonstrated the importance of implementing safe,
healthy, and equitable environmental policies to bring about
environmental justice. Thanks to this grassroots work, Americans now
realize that it is no longer tolerable for pollution and environmental
toxins to prey heavily on our Nation's vulnerable population, including
impoverished Americans; minorities; and our children.
Despite this realization, too many still take our Nation's
environmental health for granted. For example, each year, more than 2.2
billion pounds of pesticides are used on crops, lawns, and public
spaces. Consumers Union reports that many children are eating fruits
and vegetables with unsafe levels of pesticide residues. This residue
is dangerous and plagues our children at every meal. Our children are
our most important resource.
Mrs. Richardson is committed to ensuring that our civil rights
include the right to live in a clean and healthy environment. I commend
her work and believe that a nation that preserves its environmental
health establishes the foundation for a healthy, stable, and prosperous
society. To complement the work of grassroots leaders, my colleagues
joined me to request an increased budget for the Environmental
Protection Agency to employ trained staff with a civil rights
background. Our vision cannot be achieved without the combined force of
private and public sector work toward the same goals.
To commemorate Black History Month, we should join together to
organize, educate, and fight for better environmental, health,
education, and economic outcomes for all Americans. While we work to
adequately fund enforcement activities and implement safe environmental
policies, we must also demand funding initiatives in infant mortality,
heart disease, AIDS, immunizations, cancer screening and management to
eliminate racial health disparities. Let's follow Linda's success and
work to implement a more progressive vision that eliminates
environmental injustice.
Mr. BISHOP. Madam Speaker, first, I appreciate the opportunity to
join my colleagues in recognizing Black History Month, and I thank
Congresswoman, Jones for arranging this year's Special Order to
remember the far-reaching role that black Americans have played through
the centuries in making our country what she was, what she is, and what
she will be.
Our topic is, ``Heritage and Horizons: The African American Legacy
and the Challenges of the 21st Century.''
This is a big subject!
The legacy is certainly big--as so is the challenge!
Historian Benjamin Quarles has pointed out in his ground-breaking
work on black history that, except for native American Indians, blacks
are the country's oldest ethnic minority. In fact, the roots of black
Americans sink deeper in the histories of the 13 original colonies than
any other group from across the Atlantic.
America was born in diversity, and many groups have played a part in
the country's phenomenal growth and development. And the part played by
Americans of African descent has been huge. We are just now beginning
to understand the impact that black America has had on every period in
the country's history.
It's an historic fact that America could not have emerged as a great
world industrial power as quickly or as forcefully as she did without
the presence of a skilled black labor force, or without the
contributions made by black Americans in every field, including the
sciences, technology, exploration, business, religion, government and
politics, the military, the arts, and in all aspects of our society.
As I took the floor this evening, I found myself thinking of Henry
Flipper.
Some of you will recognize the name Henry Flipper--who was born in
Thomasville, Georgia, which is located in an area of southwest Georgia
that I have the privilege of representing--is remembered as the first
black graduate of West Point, who went on to serve with distinction as
a young military officer on the western frontier, and who was wrongly
forced out of the service on the basis of false charges, even though he
had been fully exonerated from those charges.
When he died in Atlanta in 1940, he was a forgotten man, and was
buried in an unmarked grave. But, in recent years, historians have dug
more deeply into his life. And what they have found is truly
remarkable.
In spite of his bitter setback in the Army, historians have learned
that he made enormous contributions to America's growth in the late
1800's and early 1900's. He helped develop the railroad in the West. He
had a pioneering role in developing the oil industry. As an engineer,
inventor, surveyor, and, later in his career, as a top advisor to the
U.S. Secretary of the Interior, he played a big part in the country's
Westward expansion.
Although born in servitude, he helped change the face of America.
There are countless examples of African-Americans who have made a
real impact on the country's history. Henry Flipper is just one of many
great black leaders produced by my own state of Georgia. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. is another. As the leading figure in the Civil Rights
Movement, he played a big role in the transformation that took place in
our country in the middle of the 20th Century.
Their stories all tell us that our country's unique diversity has
been a great source of strength, and should be celebrated. In fact,
America's heroes are not limited to any race, or creed, or gender or
national background. We find examples of greatness among all people in
this patchwork of cultures that has become the strongest, freest, and
most productive nation the world has ever known.
[[Page H530]]
By observing Black History Month, we learn more about our history; we
celebrate our diversity; and we become inspired and motivated by
Americans who have helped lead the way toward fulfilling the country's
great promise of equality of opportunity and justice for all.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise to
represent to citizens of the Thirtieth Congressional District to pay
honor and tribute to scores of African-Americans who have paved the way
for the realization of the American dream.
African-American history is American history. Even before there was a
United States, Crispus Attucks became the first American martyr when he
was killed during the Boston Massacre of 1770, fighting against
taxation without representation. Over 5,000 black soldiers and sailors
fought in the American Revolution, only to be told that they were only
three-fifths human when the Constitution was ratified.
Africans transplanted to America endured centuries of oppression,
beginning before they even set foot on the American shore. The middle
passage was a terrible, often fatal voyage of slaves from Africa to the
New World. Africans were herded like livestock into the lower decks of
a ship, where they were shackled together in inhumane conditions, fed
only substance portions, and thrown overboard in shark infested waters
if they got sick, weak, or the weight of the ship was simply too heavy.
Once here, they were subjected to every oppressive tactic known to man,
from the spirit breaking submission demanded on the plantation, to the
family breaking practice of slave breeding and trading, to the mind
numbing laws forbidding slave education.
Yet, even in the days when it seemed that ``hope unborn had died'',
Africans in America reached amazing heights of achievement in all areas
of endeavor, from science and medicine to politics and education, from
Benjamin Banneker and Daniel Hale Williams to Shirley Chisholm and
Martha Collins. Over stony roads, African-Americans have trod over the
obstacles to success, each time redefining the American Dream as they
fought on to victory.
I would like to take this special opportunity to highlight the
enormous contribution to African-American history, and thus, American
history, by African-Americans from Texas, and, in many cases, from my
district. Maynard Jackson, who went on to become the first and one of
the most successful mayors of Atlanta, was born in Dallas in 1938. As
mayor of Atlanta, he laid the foundation for the new South's
centerpiece city by ensuring that all races were allowed to take part
in Atlanta's economic opportunity.
``Blind'' Lemon Jefferson used Dallas as a base to launch an
extraordinary blues career, during which he made over 100 recordings of
his intricate melodic rhythms and influenced countless artists,
including B.B. King. Before Rafer Johnson went on to be a gold medalist
and a world decathlon record holder, he also lived in Dallas.
Dallas native Bobby Seale went on to lead tens of thousands of
African-Americans toward heightened political consciousness. Dallas
served as a launching pad for James Farmer, the noted Congress of
Racial Equality leader and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And as the first black mayor of Dallas, Mayor Ron Kirk continues to
lead the city into unprecedented economic success.
North Dallas has produced extraordinary African-Americans. Dallas
native Ernie Banks set records in baseball and was voted the ``Greatest
Chicago Cubs Player of All Time''. Austin native Bill Picket was the
first black working cowboy, and revolutionized the genre with his
unique style of bulldogging. From my birthplace, Waco, TX native Monroe
Majors became the first black to practice medicine west of the Rocky
Mountains, and Jules Bledsoe changed the face of opera through his
groundbreaking production, ``Showboat.''
Madam Speaker, I have just scratched the surface of North Texas
African-American contributions to the American fabric. From Al
Lipscomb, who led the fight to make Dallas elected officials more
representative of the populace, to Royce West and John Wiley Price, who
led the fight for justice in Dallas today. As I look to the dawn of a
new century, I am proud to be a part of America's esteemed legacy of
African-American achievement.
Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today on the last day of Black
History Month to share with you a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. The remarks to follow were given by my good friend and esteemed
colleague, Representative John Spratt from the Fifth Congressional
District of South Carolina. Representative Spratt's remarks on the late
Dr. King bring a very refreshing and much-needed view on the subject of
America and where we ought to be heading as we enter the new
Millennium. Our home State of South Carolina is involved in a national
debate, as I've spoken about recently, regarding the confederate battle
flag flying atop the Statehouse in Columbia. Were we all to read
Representative Spratt's remarks and take them into close consideration,
we might be one step closer to understanding the past and moving
towards the future that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned for our
nation.
Madam Speaker, I submit for the Record the following remarks given by
Representative John Spratt on January 17, 2000, at the Mt. Prospect
Baptist Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--Remarks of U.S. Representative
John Spratt, Mt. Prospect Baptist Church, Rock Hill, South Carolina,
January 17, 2000
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929. He was
26, in the pulpit of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church less than
two years, when he was drafted to lead the Montgomery bus
boycott. He was 39 the night he told the sanitation workers
in Memphis that God had taken him up on the top of the
mountain and let him see the promised land. ``Mine eyes have
see the glory of the coming of the Lord,'' he said. ``I'm not
fearing any man.''
He would have been 71 on Saturday, had he lived. But the
next day in Memphis, he stepped out onto the deck of the
Lorraine Motel, and a gunman, filled with the venom he had
tried all his life to pacify, fired a rifle bullet through
his jaw, and killed him instantly.
American history is pock-mocked with violence, but it is
also marked by turning points where God gave us great leaders
who steered us in the right direction. George Washington was
one. Abraham Lincoln, another. Franklin Roosevelt lifted us
out of the Depression, assuring us we had ``nothing to fear
but fear itself.'' Martin Luther King, Jr. called us to
``rise up and live out the true meaning of our creed, that
all men are created equal.''
There were Americans then, and there are Americans now, who
have never understood that Dr. King was speaking to them when
he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. But surely
everyone can be thankful for this: that when African-
Americans demanded their rights, they did not rally behind a
leader filled with bitterness and belligerence; they turned
to this man who told his followers, ``The means we use must
be as pure as the ends we seek.''
Langston Hughes wrote, ``We too sing America,'' but it was
Martin King, Jr. who showed how. He brought audiences to
their feet merely by reciting ``My Country `Tis of Thee.'' In
a voice that sounded like the trumpet of Gideon, he called on
America to let freedom ring, and all who heard it never
forgot it.
At his funeral, they called him ``a warrier for peace.'' A
leader willing to die for his cause but not willing to kill.
A protester who was also a peacemaker. A black man, of an
oppressed people, who reached out to everyone, even his
enemies, because his objective was not to win but to
reconcile. He was a Nobel Prize winner who could have become
a messianic figure, and preached in pulpits all over the
country, but he chose to go to his death marching with the
garbagemen of Memphis.
His greatest achievement was, in his words, ``a method of
struggle that made it possible to stand up against an unjust
system and fight it with all your might, yet never stoop to
violence and hatred in the process.'' He gave Gandhi credit
for helping him understand the philosophy of nonviolent
protest. But he believed that this spirit was rooted in the
black church, in three centuries of Christian stoicism when
African-Americans were gripped in bondage.
In the dark days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin
Luther King, Jr. told his congregation at Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church, ``You who protest courageously, yet with
dignity and Christian love, when the history books are
written in the future, the historian will have to say, `There
was a great people, a black people, who injected new meaning
and dignity into the veins of civilization.' ''
This national holiday is not created out of magnanimity. It
is created out of respect for a people who have earned it, to
honor a man who belongs with the greatest American leaders.
We honor only two other Americans with national holidays
bearing their names: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I
am proud to say I voted for law designating this day, but I
will be first to admit that all it does is make the third
Monday in January a legal holiday. This can become just
another ``day off'' unless we make it ``a day on,'' a time to
reach into our souls and ask what we can do to make the dream
a reality.
Lyndon Johnson explained why this day matters long before
it was ever designated, thirty-five years ago. The week after
Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, LBJ addressed the nation on
television. John Lewis had been beaten into the ground after
crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, but he was watching, and
as LBJ spoke, his spirit soared. This, he says, was the
``strongest civil rights speech any president ever made.''
LBJ began by saying, ``At times history and fate meet at a
single place to shape a turning point in man's unending
search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it
was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week at
Selma, Alabama.''
``Rarely,'' he said, ``in any time does an issue lay bare
the heart of America itself . . . But the issue of equal
rights for American Negroes is such an issue. Should we
defeat every enemy, should we double our
[[Page H531]]
wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this
issue, we will have failed as a people and as a nation.''
After thirty-five years, LBJ's words still ring true. The
stakes are the same, and failure is not an option. That's why
this holiday and what it's about are vitally important, not
just to African-Americans but to all Americans.
Last spring, I went with my colleague and friend, John
Lewis, on a pilgrimage to Selma, and to Birmingham and
Montgomery. We prayed in the church in Birmingham, where the
lives of four girls were cruelly cut short by dynamite,
exploded in the midst of a Sunday morning worship. We sat in
the pews at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and listened to
Dr. King tell his congregation during the bus boycott:
``The tension in this city is not between white people and
black people. The tension is, at bottom, between justice
and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces
of darkness.'' and on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we
marched, arm-in-arm, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
On the way back, a reporter asked why I had made the trip,
and I told him I thought everyone should come to Birmingham
and Selma. Everyone should know the Edmund Pettus Bridge as
well as Concord Bridge in Massachusetts; and everyone should
know what happened in Kelly-Ingram Park as well as what
happened on Lexington Green.
If you fast forward thirty-five years from LBJ's speech,
you have to say we have come a long way. Dr. King's mission
is far from finished; but that doesn't make the
accomplishments of the civil rights movement any less
momentous. We should not let ourselves or our children
diminish what was achieved in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, or
say that race relations are no better now than then. We grew
up in the segregated South. We know better.
And besides, we have to remember how far we've come because
it inspires us to keep going. We should remember Philip
Randolph, telling the Judiciary Committee that ``when Negro
Americans travel the highways of this country, we are stalked
by humiliation.'' And remember how Rosa Parks, a seamstress
in Montgomery, helped put an end to that indignity. When we
think there is little we as ordinary citizens can do,
heroines like Rosa Parks remind us we are wrong.
They remind us also that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have
accomplished little or nothing, but for those who stood
behind him and those who charged ahead, as shock troops of
the movement. They were ordinary Americans like Dub Massey
and Jim Wells and the Friendship Nine. But it was, in Dr.
King's words, ``their sublime courage, their willingness to
suffer, their amazing discipline in the midst of almost
inhuman provocation'' that gave us the Civil Rights Act of
1964.
Among the early protesters was a young woman named Diane
Nash, an organizer of SNCC. At the time of the Rock Hill sit-
ins, SNCC was in dire financial straits, and meeting to
discuss how they could keep going. One of the Friendship
protesters, Tom Gaither, used the single phone call allowed
him at the jail to call SNCC collect in Atlanta. Gaither
called to tell SNCC that the Friendship students didn't want
bail and wouldn't be asking SNCC for bond money. They were
going to serve out their thirty days in jail. This became a
precedent for the whole movement, and so inspired SNCC that
four of those at the meeting in Atlanta drove to Rock Hill,
sat-in at McCrory's, and joined the Friendship Nine in the
county jail.
Diane Nash was among them, and today, she issues us a
caveat. She says that ``the movement made Martin rather than
Martin making the movement.'' She says this not to diminish
Dr. King, but so that ``young people will not think that this
was his movement, and say `I wish we had a Martin Luther King
today to lead us . . . If people know how the movement
started and why it succeeded,'' says Diane Nash, ``they will
be more likely to ask the right question, which is: `What can
I do?' ''
Every community needs stories of sublime courage,
discipline, and principle like these. These are our epic
poems, and we should be telling them and teaching them
because they build respect; they show us we are stronger than
we think; they inspire our better selves.
Those who want to keep the Confederate flag flying over our
Capitol claim it as their heritage. But Confederate veterans
served in the General Assembly from 1866 to the early 1920s,
and never resolved to raise their old battle flag over the
dome of the Capitol. If we want to preserve our heritage,
what about the motherlode of heritage in the civil rights
movement? In a country where there is too much violence in
the home, in the schools, on the streets, here is a rich
history of non-violence worth our study.
Every school child in South Carolina should know stories
like these. They should know the story of those black
children in Clarendon County who walked miles to school every
day, as busses full of white children passed them by. They
should not study South Carolina history without learning the
name of Levi Briggs and those brave parents who put their
lives on the line to correct this inequity, and went on to
the Supreme Court with Briggs v. Elliott. They should know
the twisted road to school integration and the quiet heroes,
like Matthew Perry and Judge Waring, who helped clear the
way.
We should teach character, teach it by telling the stories
of Rosa Parks and Levi Briggs, John Lewis, and the Friendship
Nine. And while we are at it, we should preach persistence,
to our children and ourselves. For one of our country's
virtues has been our capacity to struggle endlessly with our
problems, and never be completely satisfied with our
solutions. We have to keep seeking solutions; and even if we
never see closure, never give up in the search for a society
that matches our ideals and principles. In the realm of
racial justice and equality, progress has been slow, and it
has been uneven, but we have not just been spinning our
wheels in a rut of racism. We have made progress.
Look, for instance, at the difference the Voting Rights Act
has made. Take the Congress. In 1965, John Lewis was
spearheading SNCC, in the streets protesting. Today he is in
the Congress, Chief Deputy Whip on the Democratic side. He
serves there alongside 38 other African-Americans, Jim
Clyburn among them, the first black elected to Congress from
South Carolina since 1896. Charlie Rangel of New York is
another; if Democrats gain control of the House in the next
election, Charlie will take the chair of the House Ways and
Means Committee, the most powerful committee in Congress.
America is better for all Americans, but it is still not
what it ought to be; and old symbols, like the flag flying
over our Capitol, are too much to be dismissed as mere
``vestiges of the past.'' We stand on the doorstep of
America's fourth century, three hundred years from the day
the first African slave set foot on this soil, and we cannot
say this is the country we want it to be.
Dr. King liked to say that he wanted more than ``just
physical proximity with no spiritual affinity.'' He wanted a
country where ``not only elbows but hearts rub together.'' We
cannot say that we are such a society, nor can we say that we
will become one by laissez-faire policies, benign neglect, or
mere evolution. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us years ago
from his cell in the Birmingham jail that ``human progress
never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes from the
tireless, persistent efforts of men willing to be co-workers
with God.
Now that we have reached certain goals, I think we need a
higher goal. Americans have always believed that we have, in
the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a rendezvous with
destiny. At a time when most people in the world lived barely
above the level of animals, Americans showed that government
of the people is the only government for the people. We
showed that when church and state are separated, both fare
better. We showed that when people from countries like
Ireland are liberated from strife and prejudice, they thrive
in a tolerant land. We showed that free education, made
available to all, is like a rising tide; it lifts all the
boats in a society. We showed that people can come from the
simplest backgrounds, like Martin Luther King, Jr., the
grandson of slaves and sharecroppers, and give birth to great
things.
Now that the barriers that segregated us have been removed,
our challenge, and I think God's purpose for us, is to show
the world--from Belfast to Bosnia, from Cape Town to East
Timor, that different races and ethnic groups need not
cripple and debilitate a country; they can make a country
richer and stronger; that we can not only co-exist, but
thrive on our differences.
This is our heritage, and it should be our mission, our
creed, our high calling. If as a people we can embrace this
goal, we can make our country that shining city on a hill
that the Puritans set out to build three hundred years ago.
We can make our country the country Martin Luther King, Jr.
dreamed of, ``where justice rolls down like waters and
righteousness like a mighty stream.''
Our goal does not have to be a completely color-blind,
totally homogenized society. That's too utopian, and frankly,
I think, too bland. I think our richness as a people derives
from our differences. I think it is enough to strive for a
plural, multi-racial society, where the visible differences
of race, color, and culture no longer carry the stigma of
somehow not being a full-fledged American.
If we make this our goal, we can put the flag flying over
our State Capitol in perspective. It's a wedge issue, and we
need to be rid of it, so that we can get on with far more
important tasks, because time is running short. Halfway
through this new century, our population is expected to hit
400 million. Fifty-three percent will be white. Twenty-five
percent will be Hispanic, 14 percent will be black, 9 percent
Asian, and one percent American Indian. Our existence as a
people is moving toward a level of complexity the world has
never seen before. In the 21st Century, the United States
will be the world's nation; the American canvass will be
painted with colors from every shade of the earth.
Surely, we do not want this racially more diverse America
to be a racially more divided America.
Surely, we want the world to look to America in this
century, as it did in the last, and see that future works,
see many races not only surviving but thriving, richer as a
culture and as a country because of our differences.
Two years ago, I went to Bosnia to visit our troops in a
forlorn place, ripped asunder by ethnic warfare. When I
landed at Tuzla, I was met by Major General Morgan, an
African-American, who commanded our troops there. When I went
to Sarajevo, I was met by General Shinseki, a Japanese-
American, who commanded the entire NATO mission. I doubt that
any racial message was intended by the assignment of these
two officers. But I have to tell you, I was proud to see my
[[Page H532]]
country making that statement in that ethnic-torn part of the
world. And I believe that America can cast that beacon, that
sign of hope, that message of racial harmony, all over the
world.
How do we plot the route to an interracial society over the
next fifty years? Well, there are lots of ways. But on the
map of racial progress, education is the name of almost every
road. Almost all studies come to one conclusion: education is
our best solution and our greatest challenge.
For one thing, the public schools right now have a racial
or ethnic composition comparable to what the whole nation
will look like in 2020. The school age population is 66
percent white, 15 percent black, 14 percent Hispanic, and 4
percent Asian. The future of diversity in this country will
depend heavily on how well the schools work out the issues of
full and equal inclusion.
In saying this, I am not shifting the burden onto teachers
and school administrators. I am speaking to all of us as
parents, to churches, to people, to the whole community. All
of us have to pitch in and make our public schools second to
none, up to the challenge of educating every child to the
limit of his potential.
Which brings me to my last point. Americans need to realize
that though we came over here on different ships, we are all
in the same boat now. The burden of change should not rest on
African-Americans alone. The burden should rest on all of us
if we believe our creed.
In that connection, let me commend the City of Rock Hill,
the Council, and Mayor Doug Echos, in particular, for
sponsoring ``No Room for Racism,'' and for your resolution on
the Flag.
No Room for Racism may be mostly dialogue, but I believe it
is dialogue that we need I believe that efforts like this can
blossom, so that one day, ours is country where all sing
America. And I believe it is God's purpose, Dr. King's drean,
and our duty to make it just that.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition
of Black History Month. I thank my colleagues of the Congressional
Black Caucus very much for their leadership on this very special order
and tribute to black history and appreciate tremendously these members
who have joined me on the floor of the House to acknowledge this very
special month.
I am thrilled to stand here on the House floor as an American and as
an African-American Member of Congress. In the 211 years of
congressional history there have been only 105 African-American Members
of Congress. 101 African-Americans have been elected to the House of
Representatives, and only 4 have been elected to the Senate. I am
boldly able to stand here today, Madam Speaker, because other
courageous and brave African-American pioneers stood valiantly before
me. During Black History Week, but most importantly throughout the
year, I am reminded of the legendary achievements that have paved the
way for my colleagues and I.
This year marks the first Black History Month celebration of the 21st
Century. Appropriately, the Association for the Study of African
American Life and History has labeled ``Heritage and Horizon--The
African American Legacy and Contributions of the 21st Century'' as the
theme for this year's celebration. I think you will agree, African-
Americans have played an integral part in the development and
prosperity of our nation. Tonight, I would like my remarks to reflect
the rich legacy of the African-American experience, and its
relationship to American history.
Seventy-four years ago, a bold and daring scholar had a vision to
honor the Legacy of African-Americans. As you know, this legendary
scholar, Carter G. Woodson founded what was then called ``Black History
Week.'' Now, our nation celebrates the entire month of February as
Black History Month. And if I might quote my 14-year-old son Jason Lee,
``we should not be regulated even by a month, for African American
history is a history of a people and the history of America.''
So I would hope that as we take to the floor of the House on the last
day of this month, my colleagues will join me in additional days in
which we will spend talking about African American history, and I would
hope that we would begin to explain to the American people how
intimately woven this history is with America. As we recall African-
American history, we should not be afraid to say that it is American
history, and we should not be afraid to recount it over and over again,
not out of hatred or hatefulness, but out of the need to educate and to
allow this country to move forward and to build upon the richness of
its diversity and to solve some of the very problems that we confront
today.
African-American history is rightfully recounting the contributions
of great Americans. Americans who dared to change not only their
individual community, but also their surrounding nation. As I recall
the legacy of African-Americans, I remember the brave and bold leaders
of our past. There is no shortage of articulate, influential African-
American leaders in our nation's history. These individuals influenced
both the African-American community and our society at large in
powerful ways as they fought to win freedom, fair treatment, and better
lives for all of America. For example, brave men like Nat Turner,
Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey, who organized and led doomed but
valiant slave rebellions against brutal slave owners. Abolitionists
like Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth, who undermined the
institution of slavery by speaking, writing, and lobbying against it--
at considerable personal risk. And brave individuals like Harriet
Tubman, who risked her life and her hard-won freedom to return to
slave-holding states to lead other African-Americans north to freedom
along the Underground Railroad. And the Civil War, where over 200,000
African-American men fought in the Union Army and Navy--to free their
enslaved brethren, and prove that African-Americans too were committed
to Democracy and the preservation of America.
And in the early 1900s, African-Americans like Booker T. Washington,
W.E.B. DuBois, and Mary Church Terrell shaped attitudes within the
African-American community and won the respect of all Americans across
the country. Also, Marcus Garvey led what was labeled the Black
Nationalist movement and fought institutional racism in the United
States.
In the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, A. Philip Randolph worked to organize
African-American workers and end the division of the labor movement
along racial lines. He also worked diligently to end discrimination in
the military and the government.
And after World War II, African-American leaders like Charles
Hamilton Houston, William Henry Hastie, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.,
Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and
Malcolm X made significant marks on American history--in our courts,
our schools, our government, our politics, and in foreign affairs.
African-American women like Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, and
Barbara Jordan, one of my personal heroes, broke old barriers and won
the respect of millions of Americans for integrity, their intelligence,
their dedication, and their professional accomplishments.
This recitation of African-American leaders is by no means all-
inclusive! In fact, it touches upon only a few of the vast amount of
African-American leaders who have shaped this country's history and
added to the legacy of African-American accomplishments in America. I
mention these names to merely observe the fact that African-Americans
have always played an integral part in the history of the United
States.
As part of this annual observation of Black History Month, it is
vital to remind America that in the face of racism, discrimination, and
violence, many African-Americans have changed the very fabric of this
nation. I would like to stress that all of America can draw great
satisfaction and strength from this history. It is important, because
as we embrace this history, it provides not only inspiration for
African-Americans, but also all of America on the dawn of the 21st
Century.
Madam Speaker, I believe that we must speak about African-American
history throughout the year, because there are still many barriers that
America has yet to hurdle and face at the dawn of the 21st century.
America has not accepted in a collective and collaborative fashion that
African American history is a history of America. Issues that impact
our communities such as increased funding for nutrition programs,
affirmative action, the Voter's Rights Act, reparations for African-
Americans, racial profiling, equitable funding for Historically Black
College and Universities, equitable training and funds to children for
access to the Internet, and a multitude of other critical issues are
concerns that Americans must join together and combat. If America
embraces African American History as American History, we would go so
much further in solving these problems and many other critical
problems.
In closing, I strongly feel that all Americans must have a better
understanding of each other. Our rich diversity has been (at the same
time) the reason for our continued struggles and progress. We must
learn each other's history! African-American history must be the kind
of history that is living; that is accepted; that is widespread; and
that all people can understand. This great nation must embrace this
rich history of the past and the present, and use it as a guide for
reshaping America's future.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for this
opportunity to present issues with regard to Black History Month this
year. Our theme again was Heritage, Horizons, Accepting the Challenges
of the 21st Century.
____________________