[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 19 (Thursday, February 28, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1336-S1337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, as our celebration of Black 
History Month now comes to a close, I want to acknowledge some of the 
rich and ongoing contributions made by my State's African-American 
citizens. Of course, the efforts of African Americans in Florida and 
throughout our Nation's history should be recognized every day, not 
just during Black History Month. Back home in Florida, our State has 
been blessed with a remarkable number of prominent African-American 
citizens who have served our State and Nation with distinction in a 
variety of fields. I want to mention a few.
  Although not a Florida native, just think of the contributions of 
Mary McLeod Bethune. She founded one of the oldest and most prestigious 
black colleges, Bethune-Cookman College. In addition to serving as 
President of Bethune-Cookman, she also was one of the leading civil 
rights activists of her time, and the first African-American woman to 
serve on a Presidential commission. Bethune-Cookman College is one of 
our stellar institutions of higher learning. It is located in Daytona 
Beach. I have had the privilege of attending that college and visiting 
with the distinguished president, who has been there over 2 decades, 
Dr. Oswald Bronson.
  The spirit that school has today carries on in the memory of Mrs. 
Mary McLeod Bethune. It is just amazing. I have seen that in the 
classrooms. I have seen it in their auditorium. I have seen it on the 
football field and the band performing at half time. It is a wonderful 
and rich part of our heritage in Florida.
  That is just one. Let me name another: Justice Joe Hatcher. He was 
born in Clearwater and, in 1975, Judge Hatcher became the first African 
American elected a justice of the Supreme Court of Florida. He later 
went on to serve with distinction on the Federal court of appeals, a 
body that sits in Atlanta, although he maintained his office right 
there in Tallahassee. His election to the State supreme court marked 
the first time an African American won a statewide office since 
Reconstruction.
  I will give you another one: James Weldon Johnson, the first African-
American executive director of the NAACP, author, lyricist, creator of 
the National Negro Anthem, and poet. He was born in Jacksonville.
  And then Eatonville, Florida's native, Zora Neale Hurston. She was a 
folklorist, anthropologist, and acclaimed author of such works as 
``Their Eyes Were Watching God,'' and ``Of Mules and Men.'' I got to 
know about her heritage when I had the privilege, as a young 
Congressman, of representing Eatonville, FL, in the late 1970s as part 
of my congressional district.
  I will give you another one: Timothy Thomas Fortune. He was born up 
in the panhandle in Marianna, FL, Jackson County, in 1856. He was the 
editor and publisher of a paper called the New York Age, and his paper 
was a platform for defending the civil rights of both northern and 
southern Blacks.
  Here is one you will recognize: Asa Philip Randolph, founder of the 
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He was born in Crescent City, FL. 
The Brotherhood was the first union founded by and for African 
Americans.
  Not far from there was born, in Palatka, FL, John Henry Lloyd. He was 
a baseball player and a manager in the Negro leagues, and was 
considered one of the greatest shortstops in the game. In 1930, as a 
member of the New York Lincoln Giants, he played in the first Negro 
League game in Yankee Stadium against the Baltimore Black Sox.

  Now I am going to tell you a name that everybody recognizes today: 
Sidney Poitier, the renowned actor who won an Academy Award in 1964 for 
his performance in ``Lilies of the Field.'' He was born in Miami.
  And our contemporary, my colleague, Winston Scott, one of our 
Nation's pioneering African-American astronauts, was born in Miami. In 
1992, Winston was selected by NASA and served as a mission specialist 
on flights in 1996 and 1997, and today he has returned to his alma 
mater, Florida State, where he serves as the dean of students. Winston 
had logged a total of 24 days, 14 hours, and 34 minutes in space.
  Augusta Christine Savage was born in Green Cove Springs, just south 
of Jacksonville. In 1923, Augusta Christine Savage was among 100 young 
American women selected to attend the summer program at Fontainebleau, 
outside of Paris, but was refused admission once the program directors 
became aware of her race. In the mid-1930s she founded and became the 
first director of the Harlem Community Arts Theater, which played a 
crucial role in the development of many young African-American artists. 
In addition, she became the first Black elected to the National 
Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.
  A Washington hero, GEN Chappie James, the first African-American 
four-star general, was born in Pensacola. As a young State legislator, 
I had the privilege of meeting General James. He was right back from 
Vietnam where he had flown so many combat missions. He became one of 
the famed Tuskegee Airmen, earning his wings back in World War II and 
going on to serve as a pilot, a fighter pilot in Korea and Vietnam. In 
1975 he received his fourth star and he became the commander of the 
North American Air Defense System.
  I could go on. As we remember the contributions of these and many 
others, and so many other African-American citizens, duty calls us to 
remember the difficulties this community faced as our Nation traveled 
through the struggle to achieve full civil rights for all people. I 
want to highlight two small initiatives that should help us preserve 
these important memories.
  Florida now is home to more than a dozen former Negro League baseball 
players. These men are nearing the end of their lives, and they have 
never received a pension for their time in the league, unlike their 
counterparts who played Major League baseball. Although Jackie Robinson 
broke baseball's color barrier in 1947, baseball didn't truly integrate 
until a decade after Robinson's historic feat. It took all the way up 
to 1959 for Major League baseball to integrate the last team.
  No doubt their fans appreciate their contribution to baseball, but by 
refusing to grant a pension to these oldtimers who played in a 
segregated society, Major League baseball is denying

[[Page S1337]]

them an appropriate reward in their efforts. I am trying to help these 
men resolve their dispute with Major League baseball so that they can 
receive a small but important token for their contributions to sports 
history.
  Also throughout the era of segregation, when public facilities were 
segregated by law, the African-American community of Miami was 
forbidden to use all of the area's beaches but one, Virginia Key Beach, 
in Biscayne Bay known as ``the Negro beach.''
  Known in those days as the ``Colored Only Beach,'' Virginia Key Beach 
was an important place in the lives of African-American families--a 
place for them to gather and enjoy the pleasures of relaxation beside 
the ocean. The memories of this place are sweet, even mixed and 
intertwined with the bitterness and memories of segregation.
  Together with my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Carrie Meek of 
Miami, we have sponsored legislation that will help preserve this 
historic place. Our bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to 
study and report to Congress on the feasibility of incorporating 
Virginia Key Beach into the National Park System.
  By enacting this legislation, we can preserve its 77 acres of beach 
and wildlife, while honoring its past and present importance to the 
people of Florida.
  These are examples of some of the small ways in which we can honor 
the lives and memories of our Nation's African-Americans.
  My own State, Florida, has an especially proud history in this 
regard, as well as a willingness to correct past mistakes.
  In 1994, for example, the Florida Legislature passed, and the late 
Gov. Lawton Chiles signed, the Rosewood claims bill, which provided 
$2.1 million to survivors and the families of victims of the 1923 
Rosewood Massacre.
  Last year, the legislature enacted sweeping reforms to give every 
person an equal opportunity to have his or her vote counted.
  You don't want any State to ever have to go through what we went 
through in Florida in the last Presidential election because there were 
votes that were not counted. So the Florida Legislature, in 2001, in 
trying to correct the voting rights abuses, passed legislation to help 
modernize the system in a Presidential election.
  Unfortunately, a $50-billion State budget proposed by the Florida 
House last week left out the second of two installments of $12 million 
to help counties replace antiquated, punch-card voting machines.
  African-Americans were disproportionately affected by flaws in the 
election system. And Florida lawmakers have made a commitment not only 
to that community but also to all the people of Florida to fix the 
system.
  Without this funding, they will have broken their promise.
  It would be appropriate at this time of recognizing the achievements 
of African-Americans for the State House to do its duty and to keep its 
word so that every vote gets counted.
  Today--and every day--let us celebrate African-American achievement 
both by remembering our past and by recommitting ourselves to the 
current fight for social, political, and economic equality for 
everyone.
  I thank the Chair for the time to address the Senate.

                          ____________________