[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 114 (Thursday, September 14, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6621-H6622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to 
address the House for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman from 
Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am very honored to join in 
this Special Order, and I salute my colleague the honorable Eddie 
Bernice Johnson for her wisdom in selecting this time, September 10 
through September 16, to be able to honor our historic historically 
black colleges across America.
  Where would we be today if we did not have those refuges that allowed 
those ex-slaves to be able to come to a place of comfort and seek an 
educational opportunity? The colleges range throughout America, from 
New York to North and South Carolina to Georgia to Louisiana to Texas 
and many other places. They are the places where young people could not 
be educated elsewhere because of the dual society and the very hostile 
segregation that existed in America. These historically black colleges 
created the opportunities for geniuses to be educated.
  I am very proud of several of the institutions in our State, and 
there are so many in the State of Texas, two that happen to be in my 
jurisdiction that I am particularly proud to mention: Texas Southern 
University that was created out of the segregated society of Texas. 
Heman Sweatt, who wanted to attend the University of Texas Law School, 
could not do so because the doors were closed. So they allowed him to 
go in the basement of that school but realizing that they could not 
block Negroes in the 1940s from achieving an education, the birth of 
Texas Southern University. How proud we are that out of that 
institution that came out of the ashes of segregation we had the 
magnificent Members of this body, the honorable Barbara Jordan and 
Mickey Leland, both graduates of Texas Southern University. Its 
neighbor just down the street, Prairie View A&M University, has 
produced some of the outstanding African American engineers who have 
gone on to NASA and other institutions of engineering prominence to be 
able to be the scientists, the engineers, and the mathematicians of 
this day and time.
  It is interesting to note that historically black colleges have 
always been alongside the black church, the place where the fight for 
segregation to end could find a place of comfort. Many do not know that 
there were few places that African Americans could meet in the 1800s 
and certainly in the 1900s. There were few places that African 
Americans could meet as they began to strategize for the civil rights 
movement after the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case of Thurgood 
Marshall's. They could meet at historically black colleges. In fact, 
Howard University is the anchor of civil rights lawyers. The first 
place that civil rights lawyers could be trained was at Howard 
University. And major lawyers who, of course, led the way of the civil 
rights litigation of the 1950s and 1960s, lawyers who protected the 
rights of civil rights workers in the Deep South, came out of 
historically black colleges. And they were the places where the civil 
rights workers could meet, where the civil rights strategists could 
meet, with the likes of Martin Luther King, with the likes of Julian 
Bond, with the likes of Andrew Young, could meet and strategize. And, 
of course, many of them were the products of African American churches 
and denominations that provided the resources for those institutions.
  Let me speak of today because I think there is a challenge for 
historically black colleges, one, in our recognition, but they should 
be a challenge in this government. We have to do much better by 
historically black colleges. If you compare the research grants that 
have been given to other institutions of learning, the black colleges 
have not had their equal share. That is patently unfair. And I am 
delighted that Texas Southern University will be hosting in February of 
2007 a major minority institute research conference to focus on that 
absence of dollars coming from the Federal Government because those 
colleges are equal too. I know they are equal because they rose to the 
occasion when the flood waters and winds raged in the Gulf Coast 
region. Those schools that were devastated were able to seek refuge for 
their students in other historically black colleges. Dr. Francis, who

[[Page H6622]]

heads up the Louisiana recovery, is the President of Xavier University. 
I salute him for his leadership. But his school was devastated. But 
other historically black colleges, like Texas Southern University and 
Prairie A&M, were the schools that opened their doors. So, frankly, I 
believe that we owe more to those schools.
  And my closing words are simply this: Corporate America, wake up. You 
are losing the opportunity to partnership with major institutions, 
institutions that go into the inner city and provide opportunities for 
children who could not have the doors open elsewhere or their parents 
did not have the doors open elsewhere. Today they choose historically 
black colleges, but we must not throw away a huge percentage of 
Americans who are talented and ready to serve. Let us rise up as a 
government, provide the research dollars, because they are equal. Let 
us be fair but not unfair. And corporate America, answer the call of 
fairness. Provide the partnerships with historically black colleges so 
they too can continue to march into the 21st century and provide the 
leadership that has paved the way for equality, justice, and freedom 
for America.
  I salute the historically black colleges. It is their week, but the 
Nation belongs to them. As we belong to them, they will continue to 
serve.

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