[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 60 (Friday, May 4, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO THE LATE REVEREND LEON SULLIVAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JULIA CARSON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 3, 2001

  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an African-American 
legend: Reverend Leon Sullivan. Reverend Sullivan is a preacher, social 
activist and educator responsible for leading efforts to promote 
nonviolent social and economic change, and it is a privilege to be here 
today to pay my respect to such a great man.
  Reverend Sullivan, the son of an elevator operator and a movie 
theater janitor, grew up in an impoverished and segregated community in 
Charleston, West Virginia, much like the neighborhood that was my home 
as a child.
  After his grandmother's passing during his sophomore year in high 
school, Leon found his calling, and began to serve as pastor of two 
Charleston area churches. By the age of 17 he was ordained a minister.
  While attending West Virginia State College a few years later on an 
athletic scholarship, Leon met the influential Congressman and pastor 
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Powell, impressed by Leon's energy and 
enthusiasm, suggested he come to New York when he graduated. Leon did, 
and Powell helped arrange a job for him with Bell Telephone Company 
while he studied theology at Union Theological Seminary and sociology 
at Columbia University.
  In New York, Leon also met A. Philip Randolph, president of the 
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters--the first recognized black-
controlled trade union in America--and it was here that he became 
involved in the early Civil Rights Movement.
  By 28, Leon was serving as pastor of Zion Baptist Church in 
Philadelphia. It was here that he not only increased the church's 
membership from 600 to 6,000, but he also picked up the now famous 
name: the ``Lion of Zion''.
  It was in Philadelphia that Leon also began his quest to create more 
jobs for minorities. He organized pastors from more than 400 black 
churches and implemented a strategy called ``selective patronage,'' 
which in effect meant ``don't buy where you don't work.''
  It was through these boycotts that companies were forced to hire more 
minorities. Leon soon discovered, however, that more often than not the 
minority population was unprepared for the workplace. This prompted him 
to found the Opportunities Industrialization Center in 1964, which 
provided practical training for black Americans. Today, there are 76 
centers in the United States and 33 centers in 18 different countries.
  Appalled by the brutal apartheid policies in South Africa, Leon 
turned his attention to sub-Saharan Africa in the 1970s. Using leverage 
he gained as the first black appointed to the GMC board in 1971, Leon 
convinced the corporation to withdraw its business in South Africa. By 
1977 he had formulated a set of ethical directives which stated 
specifically how American-owned companies doing business in South 
Africa ought to equitably treat and promote black South African 
workers.
  Known as the ``Sullivan Principles'', these guidelines became a 
blueprint for ending apartheid in South Africa and economic injustice 
around the world. These principles have been adopted by the United 
Nations as an international ethical standard for multinational 
companies' roles in assuring human rights. By the 1980s, with apartheid 
still entrenched in the country, Reverend Sullivan urged the Reagan 
administration to enact a trade embargo and establish sanctions against 
South Africa.
  In 1992, in recognition for his continuing crusades in the area of 
human rights, Reverend Sullivan was awarded the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, the highest civilian award given in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I say again, it is a privilege to be here today to honor 
the life of this great man, and I feel honored to have met and talked 
with Reverend Sullivan many times. I consider him to be my friend, and 
I would like him to know that he has many friends here in the halls of 
Congress, including myself. Thank you Reverend Sullivan, and thank you 
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                          ____________________