[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 29 (Thursday, February 15, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2016-S2018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH


                         Dr. William Neal Brown

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to join with Senator 
Robert Menendez and our House colleague Congressman Donald Payne in 
honoring Dr. William Neal Brown, a distinguished and inspiring figure 
in African-American history. In recognition of Black History Month, we 
gathered with residents of New Jersey to pay tribute to Dr. Brown on 
Saturday, February 10, 2007 at the Newark Museum in Newark, NJ, during 
``A Salute to Heroes.''
  Dr. Brown was born in Warrenton, GA, on February 24, 1919. His father 
was an ex-slave and his mother was Native American. He grew up in 
Aliquippa, PA, where his father labored as a farmer and steel mill 
worker. His love of learning and inspiration to educate others began at 
an early age, when he and six of his classmates dreamed of becoming 
teachers.
  After graduating with honors from high school, Dr. Brown went to work 
in the Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, President Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt's public works program that put over 3 million young men and 
adults to work during the Great Depression. It was here that he was 
introduced to the Hampton Institute, where he would enroll as a work-
study student and proceed to graduate with a bachelor of science in 
1941.
  Dr. Brown heeded the call to serve his country and enrolled in the 
Army Air Force, where he served in special services as an information 
education officer, and trained at various bases including with the 
Tuskegee Airmen in Tuskegee, AL. After the war, on the GI bill, Dr. 
Brown began his graduate studies, first at Columbia University and then 
at City College.
  After 3 years of social work at the Veterans' Administration in 
Newark, NJ, Dr. Brown became the first African-American professor at 
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
  During his 41 years as a professor at Rutgers, Dr. Brown mentored and 
inspired countless students and future social workers. He has lived his 
life by a verse he often quotes from Thanatopsis by William Cullen 
Bryant: ``So live, that when thy summons comes to join the innumerable 
caravan that went to sway to the silent halls of death, thou go not 
like a quarry-slave at night, scourged to his dungeon, but sustained 
and soothed by an unfaltering trust. Approach thy grave as one who lies 
down to pleasant dreams.''

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  Mr. President, there is no doubt that Dr. William Neal Brown is an 
exemplary and committed leader and a true role model for our State and 
the entire country. I am pleased to pay tribute to him today, and I 
know my colleagues will join me in wishing him continued success.


                            DeNorval Unthank

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, each Congress I rise to honor February as 
Black History Month. Each February since 1926, our Nation has 
recognized the contributions of Black Americans to the history of our 
Nation.
  This is no accident; February is a significant month in Black 
American history. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, President Abraham 
Lincoln, and scholar and civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois were born in 
the month of February. The 15th amendment to the Constitution was 
ratified 136 years ago this month, preventing race discrimination in 
the right to vote. The National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People was founded in February in New York City. And on 
February 25, 1870, this body welcomed its first Black Senator, Hiram R. 
Revels of Mississippi.
  In this important month I want to celebrate some of the contributions 
made by Black Americans in my home State of Oregon. Since Marcus Lopez, 
who sailed with Captain Robert Gray in 1788, became the first person of 
African descent known to set foot in Oregon, a great many Black 
Americans have helped shape the history of my State. This is the second 
time this month I have come to the floor to highlight some of their 
stories.
  Dr. DeNorval Unthank arrived in the Portland, OR, after completing 
medical school at Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Unthank was 
recruited to Portland in 1929 because the city needed a Black doctor. 
He was quickly tested as his White neighbors greeted his first attempt 
to move into a previously all White residential area with broken 
windows, threatening phone calls, and general harassment. Dr. Unthank 
had to move his family four times before finding a peaceful place to 
settle down.
  Throughout the 1930s, Dr. Unthank was Portland's only Black medical 
practitioner. He was a dedicated doctor and a friend to any minority 
group in the city. Black families could not receive treatment in 
hospitals at that time and house calls were necessary. Dr. Unthank made 
himself available day and night and served African Americans, Asians, 
as well as many Whites.
  Dr. Unthank was politically active and was outspoken in his support 
of civil rights and equal opportunity. In 1940, Dr. Unthank was elected 
head of the Advisory Council, an organization that hoped to pressure 
local leaders into providing equal access to economic opportunities 
related to WWII jobs. The Council documented incidents of 
discrimination in the workplace around Portland.
  During and after World War II, Dr. Unthank worked tirelessly to build 
his medical practice and promote civil rights. He became the first 
Black member of Portland's City Club in 1943. He encouraged the club to 
publish a significant 1945 study called ``The Negro in Portland,'' 
which opened the eyes of many citizens to ongoing discriminatory 
practices. Dr. Unthank also served as president of the local chapter of 
the NAACP and was a cofounder of the Portland Urban League. He played a 
strong role in the passing of Oregon's 1953 civil rights bill, which 
among many issues, overturned a law banning interracial marriages in 
the State.
  In 1958, the Oregon Medical Society named him Doctor of the Year. In 
recognition of his service to civil rights, grateful citizens pressed 
the city to dedicate DeNorval Unthank Park in North Portland in his 
honor in 1969. Dr. Unthank once said, ``A Negro may have a few more 
doors closed to him and he may find them a little harder to open, but 
he can open them. He must keep trying.''
  Dr. Unthank is only one example of the Black men and women who 
changed the course of history in Oregon and in the United States. 
During the remainder of Black History Month, I will return to the floor 
to celebrate more Oregonians like Dr. DeNorval Unthank, whose 
contributions, while great, have not yet received the attention they 
deserve.


                          black history month

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, today I rise, as many do this month, to 
join in the nationwide recognition of African- American history. Every 
February, the Nation joins in the celebration of the sacrifice, 
perseverance, and advancement of African Americans. The idea of an 
African-American history month was proposed by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a 
son of former slaves. Dr. Woodson, who became a prominent scholar in 
African-American studies, worked tirelessly to ensure that the 
contribution of African Americans would not be forgotten.
  In an article written for Johnson's Publications, Lerone Bennett 
tells us that one of the most inspiring and instructive stories in 
African-American history is the story of Woodson's struggle and rise 
from the coal mines of West Virginia to the summit of academic 
achievement: ``At 17, the young man who was called by history to reveal 
Black history was an untutored coal miner. At 19, after teaching 
himself the fundamentals of English and arithmetic, he entered high 
school and mastered the four-year curriculum in less than two years. At 
22, after two-thirds of a year at Berea College [in Kentucky], he 
returned to the coal mines and studied Latin and Greek between trips to 
the mine shafts. He then went on to the University of Chicago, where he 
received bachelor's and master's degrees, and Harvard University, where 
he became the second Black to receive a doctorate in history. The rest 
is history--Black history.''
  It is important to honor the legacy of Dr. Woodson and other African-
American pioneers who led the advancement of African Americans in a 
nation once lacking in humanity towards them. In the spirit of honoring 
those legacies, I pay homage to two women, claimed by my home State of 
Michigan, who played pivotal roles in the struggle for civil rights and 
human rights. Sojourner Truth and Rosa Parks were women of different 
times, yet similar courage, and effectively raised awareness for the 
inequality and injustice of their eras. Both have been recently honored 
by Congress. It was my privilege to cosponsor legislation, enacted on 
December 20, 2006, authorizing a bust of Sojourner Truth to be 
prominently displayed in the United States Capitol, and it was also my 
privilege to cosponsor legislation, signed into law on December 1, 
2005, which directs the Architect of the Capitol to place a statue of 
Rosa Parks in National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol. Sojourner 
Truth and Rosa Parks will become the first African-American women to be 
represented in this place of honor of notable people of History.
  These are truly two phenomenal women, not just in African-American 
history, but in American History. Sojourner Truth, although unable to 
read and write, was widely accepted as one of the most effective 
spokespersons of her time. She spoke eloquently and energetically about 
the inhumanity and immorality of slavery. Truth also worked toward 
other social goals, especially women's rights. In 1851, she delivered 
her famous ``Ain't I a Woman?'' speech at the historic Women's 
Convention in Akron, OH. Sojourner Truth attacked both racist and 
sexist notions during her speech when she said, ``Then that little man 
in back there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause 
Christ wasn't a woman? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a 
woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.''
  Sojourner Truth settled in Battle Creek, MI, during the mid-1850s. 
She traveled throughout the State during the Civil War to collect food 
and clothing for African-American volunteer units. Truth also traveled 
to Washington, DC, in 1864 to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. 
Truth became a close advisor to the President on assisting freed 
slaves. While in Washington, Truth also appeared at women's suffrage 
gatherings. As a result of illness, Sojourner Truth returned to Battle 
Creek in 1875.
  Born Isabella Baumfree in 1797, she died Sojourner Truth in 1883. 
Although she was born in chains, her legacy lives in fame. Michigan 
honored Sojourner Truth and her extraordinary legacy with the 
dedication of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Monument. Located in Battle 
Creek, MI, this monument was unveiled on September 25, 1999.
  On November 2, 2005, I joined over 4,000 mourners at Greater Grace 
Temple to celebrate the life of Rosa Parks

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at her funeral in Detroit, MI. Just a few days earlier, Rosa Parks 
became the first woman in the history of the United States to lie in 
honor in the Capitol Rotunda. And, a few years earlier on June 15, 
1999, Rosa Parks was presented with the highest honor of Congress, the 
Congressional Gold Medal. The actions of Rosa Parks merit such honor, 
as her silent resistance to the humiliation and demoralization of 
racial segregation sparked the civil rights movement. Over 51 years ago 
in Montgomery, AL, she refused to give up her seat and move to the back 
of the bus. The strength and spirit of this courageous woman and her 
act of peaceful rebellion captured the conscience of the American 
people and the world. For Rosa Parks, this was but a small part of a 
lifetime of struggle for equality and justice. In fact, 12 years 
earlier, Rosa Parks had been arrested for violating another segregation 
law, which required African Americans to pay their fares at the front 
of the bus, then exit and reenter at the rear door. The driver of that 
bus was the same driver that would order Rosa Parks to the back of the 
bus in December of 1955.
  The boycott of the bus system in Montgomery was a direct result of 
Rosa Parks' actions, which sparked a movement that called attention to 
the plight of African Americans nationwide and introduced the world to 
the civil rights movement and its young leader, who would one day have 
a national holiday declared in his honor, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
  Mr. President, we have come a long way toward achieving justice and 
equality for all. But we still have work to do. We must rededicate 
ourselves to continuing the struggle for civil rights and human rights.

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