[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H769-H770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to be able to join my 
colleagues who are here on the floor and will be presenting a Special 
Order in tribute to black history. I know my colleagues will begin an 
hour in just a few minutes, and I want to add to their offering this 
afternoon by sharing the importance of acknowledging this month with 
something a little bit different.
  I am glad that through the calendar year we give an opportunity to be 
able to recognize the richness of the diversity of Americans. We are in 
fact a mosaic, not necessarily a melting pot, and we have many months 
to be able to honor so many different groups. And although this month 
has been designated as Black History Month, might I say that I look 
forward to the day that we stand as Americans and we are enriched by 
all of our cultures and that we respect them throughout the year, and 
that our classes throughout America are filled with anecdotal stories 
about all of the pioneers who came to this country, some of us quite 
differently.
  I believe that Black History Month has been established primarily 
because, of course, the ancestors of those of us who are African 
Americans came first to this Nation in the bottom of the belly of a 
slave boat. But through that journey, that dark passage, we came to 
this Nation recognizing that its very tenets represented our ideals, 
and that is of opportunity, of sharing, of giving, of excellence.
  So today I cite for our colleagues the importance of Black History 
Month, to be able to share those heroes. I may call a very limited 
list, because to call the whole roll would be enormous. I know they are 
familiar names, such as W. E. B. Dubois, George Washington Carver, or 
Sojourner Truth, the suffragette who may have been left unknown and 
unexpressed, but we know of her great emancipation work and her work on 
behalf of women, giving them the opportunity to work.
  Harriet Tubman was known as General Moses, who helped to bring slaves 
through a free America. George White was the last African American to 
serve in the United States Congress in 1901

[[Page H770]]

when he was redrawn out of this House through redistricting. He stood 
on the floor of the House and he said, ``Like a phoenix, the Negro will 
rise.''
  General Chappie James during World War II showed himself to be a 
proud American, fighting against the forces of evil. The Tuskeegee 
Airmen, which we honored just a few weeks ago. So many.
  Then, of course, we bring ourselves to the civil rights movement. And 
who does not know the name of Rosa Parks, someone who was willing to 
sit down and be counted against, again, the evil of segregation. We 
know the names of those like Martin Luther King, but do we know Josea 
Williams and Andrew Young? These are great icons.
  And of course we know that so many of them brought us to the point 
where we could stand on this floor, Dorothy Height, who is with us 
today, her great leadership, and C. Dolores Tucker, both women who were 
pioneers and willing to take a chance.
  Might I share, Mr. Speaker, some of the local heroes of Houston, 
Texas.
  Jack Yates, who founded the Bethel Baptist Church, which suffered an 
enormous fire just a few weeks ago. How grateful I am that that 
community has come together and has stood together to say that history 
is important, not just for African Americans or Houstonians, but for 
all of us.
  F. M. Williams. His father had a school named for him, M. C. 
Williams. We thank him for the spiritual leadership and being able to 
be concerned about education.
  Christie Adair, Moses Leroy, Zollie Scales are all great heroes in 
our community who passed on, but Beulah Shepard, who remains in her 
early eighties, is someone who believed that just one single vote could 
make a difference, and went throughout the community registering people 
to vote and empowering them. She was a political leader. Unelected, but 
yet a leader in our community.
  So many stand as heroes. Esther Williams. She was one of the early 
precinct judges and a dear friend. She was always in the political 
organizational aspect of our leadership, and she did it to open the 
doors for others.
  Our first judges, like Henry Doyle; and certainly some of our 
attorneys, like attorney Plummer and attorney Whitcliff; or our early 
doctors, like John B. Coleman. So many. Dr. E. A. Lord and many others 
who have preceded the Perrys, Dr. and Mrs. Perry.
  So I list these names not because they asked to be listed, but 
because this month is extremely important in recognizing the fulness of 
America and the diversity of America and our willingness to acknowledge 
them by this month. Let us always be reminded that our brilliance, our 
greatness is because we can stand under one flag, differently but yet 
united.
  I go to my seat, Mr. Speaker, challenging the City of Houston and our 
school district, the Houston Independent School District, to cherish 
that history and ask and plead with them not to close Jack Yates High 
School, Kashmir High School, and Sam Houston High School because our 
history is so important.

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