[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 12, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE LIFE OF ULYSSES BRADSHAW KINSEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 12, 2005

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life 
of Mr. Ulysses Bradshaw Kinsey, who died on April 2, 2005. Mr. Kinsey, 
known as U.B. to all who loved and respected him, was born on June 27, 
1918 in Fort White, Florida, one of ten children of Henry and Cora 
Kinsey. The family moved to Palm Beach County when Mr. Kinsey was just 
eight years old. Throughout his life, he was proud of the fact that, 
although he grew up in segregated times, he never drank from 
``Colored'' water fountains.
  Barred by law from attending the University of Florida, he could not 
pursue his dream of becoming an attorney. Instead, he attended Florida 
A&M and became a teacher. After graduation, he returned to Palm Beach 
County and was hired by his alma mater, Industrial High School, where 
he taught nearly every subject. At that time, starting white teachers 
were paid $50 more per month than their black counterparts. One month 
after starting, U.B. Kinsey and others challenged the school board over 
this policy. Future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall argued 
their case, and they won.
  After their own victory, Mr. Kinsey and his fellow teachers began 
battling for the rights of black students. During World War II, black 
children were schooled only seven months a year, so they could provide 
cheap labor the rest of the time harvesting crops for local farmers. 
U.B. Kinsey and his colleagues won that battle, too, and black children 
were returned to a nine-month schedule. He went on to become assistant 
principal at Industrial High and, later, the first principal of 
Palmview Elementary. Along the way, Mr. Kinsey established a 
scholarship fund that annually provides three promising students from 
low-income families $1,000 each to attend college.
  Over the next half-century, about 30,000 children passed through the 
doors of Palmview Elementary. The school was later re-named U.B. 
Kinsey/Palmview in his honor. At one point in his career, U.B. Kinsey 
was offered the opportunity to become an assistant superintendent of 
schools in charge of busing. He turned down the offer because he 
refused to take part in the busing of black children to white schools 
far from their neighborhoods. In the 1980s, as drug dealing became a 
problem near his school, Mr. Kinsey confronted many of the dealers and, 
out of respect for their former teacher, they stayed away from U.B. 
Kinsey Elementary.

  After retiring in 1989, he co-founded a non-profit development 
company that secured funding to build a low-income housing development 
near his school. These are just a few of the remarkable accomplishments 
of Ulysses Bradshaw Kinsey. Generations of African-American children 
have benefited from the battles he fought and won to ensure that they 
got a proper education. His efforts are directly responsible for the 
graduation and ascension to higher education of countless black young 
people. His many victories that advanced the cause of civil rights in 
general earned him the gratitude of African-American citizens 
throughout Palm Beach County.
  U.B. Kinsey was a beloved friend of mine. His stature in the 
education of Palm Beach County's children may be matched, but it will 
never be exceeded. This very fine gentleman, a truly great American, 
will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

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