[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 41 (Friday, March 9, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself and Mr. Corker):
  S. 835. A bill to redesignate the Federal building located at 167 
North Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee, as the ``Clifford Davis and 
Odell Horton Federal Building''; to the Committee on Environment and 
Public Works.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce a bill to 
rename the Federal building in Memphis as the Clifford Davis and Odell 
Horton Federal Building. My colleague Senator Corker is a cosponsor. It 
is the same legislation that was introduced in the House of 
Representatives by our new Representative Steve Cohen, and it is 
cosponsored by the rest of the House delegation, both Republicans and 
Democrats.
  Representative Cohen's bill, H.R. 753, was approved by the House 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on March 1 and awaits 
further action by the full House.
  Judge Horton has a remarkable legacy. He was the first African-
American federal district court judge appointed in Tennessee since 
Reconstruction. He was recommended by former Senator Jim Sasser and 
appointed by President Carter on May 12, 1980.
  I remember those days of transition very well. It was in that same 
year that I was Governor of Tennessee. I appointed the first African-
American supreme court justice in Tennessee, Judge George Brown, who 
served with distinction.
  At that time, there had not been an African-American chancellor, 
which is one of our lower court's State judges. I appointed Irwin 
Kilcrease to that position, and he served with a distinguished record 
and retired only within the last couple of years.
  Judge Horton was a real pioneer who came at a time of transition in 
Memphis, where he lived, and in our State's history. He served as chief 
judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee 
from January 1, 1987, until December 31, 1993.
  Odell Horton was born in Bolivar, TN, just outside of Memphis, on May 
13, 1929. He said he grew up in a ``typically rural Southern and 
typically segregated [environment], with all of the attendant 
consequences of that''.
  At about the same time, growing up maybe 40 miles away was a young 
man named Alex Haley who would sit on the front porch of his 
grandparents' home and listen to his great-aunt tell stories of Kunta 
Kinte, which ultimately became the story of ``Roots.''
  Odell Horton's father was a laborer. His mother took in laundry. His 
first job at the age of 6 was delivering laundry for his mom. He and 
his three siblings also picked cotton, stacked lumber, and took other 
odd jobs.
  After high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He enrolled in 
Morehouse College using the GI bill. He served with the Marines during 
the Korean war. He graduated from the U.S. Navy School of Journalism.
  After the Marines, he earned a law degree from Howard University, and 
after graduating from Howard Law School in 1956, he moved to Memphis 
and rented a one-room office on Beale Street--the music street of 
Memphis--and opened his own law practice.
  He did that for 5 years. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney 
after that.
  In 1968, he was director of the city's hospitals, making him the only 
Black division director at city hall at that time.
  He served as judge on the Shelby County Criminal Court. He was a 
commentator on a local television station. He ran for district attorney 
general in 1974, narrowly losing the primary, at that time considered a 
very strong showing by an African-American candidate in a county that 
today has an African-American mayor of Memphis and an African-American 
mayor of Shelby County.
  He was a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge before being appointed as a U.S. 
district judge by President Carter.
  He was married to his wife Evie for 50 years, with two sons, Odell, 
Jr., and Christopher. He died on February 22, 2006.
  I commend Representative Cohen for his bill to rename the Clifford 
Davis Federal Building to the Clifford Davis and Odell Horton Federal 
Building. Representative Davis was a Congressman who served in the 
House of Representatives from 1940 to 1965. He was one of those five 
Congressmen in the U.S. Capitol when four Puerto Rican nationalists 
opened fire from the visitors' balcony in the Chamber. He was shot in 
the leg at the time.
  Keeping both names on the Federal building is symbolic of the 
transition that took place in Memphis and across the South during 
Odell's lifetime and my lifetime and reminds us that our country is 
committed to equal opportunity, but it has been and is and will be for 
a long time a work in progress.
  Odell Horton is one of the finest examples of that work in progress. 
Having his name on a Federal building will remind all of us of that.
  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, today I am pleased to cosponsor a bill to 
rename the Memphis Federal Building in order to commemorate a great 
Tennessean, the Honorable Odell Horton.
  Judge Horton, born in Bolivar, TN, on May 13, 1929, was the son of a 
laborer and a laundress. After high school he performed two tours as a 
U.S. marine, including service in the Korean war. He was a graduate of 
Morehouse College, the United States Navy School of Journalism, and 
Howard University School of Law.
  Horton's distinguished legal career began in 1956 in a one room 
office at 145 Beale Street, where he remained in private practice for 6 
years. In 1962 he began service as an assistant U.S. attorney in 
Memphis. He remained in this position until he was appointed to the 
Shelby County Criminal Court, where he was later elected without 
opposition. Judge Horton also served in the capacity as the city of 
Memphis' director of Hospital and Health Services, where he ordered the 
desegregation of the Bowld Hospital in 1968. In 1970, Judge Horton left 
public service to serve as the President of LeMoyne-Owen College, a 
historically African-American liberal arts college.
  In 1976, he began service as a U.S. bankruptcy judge until 1980 when 
he became the first African-American since Reconstruction to be 
appointed to a Tennessee Federal judicial appointment. He was a well 
regarded and respected judge who served as the chief judge for the 
Western District from 1987 through 1993. On May 16, 1995, Judge Horton 
took senior status and 2 years later closed his office.
  He and his wife Evie were married for over 50 years and had two sons, 
Odell, Jr. and Christopher. Unfortunately, Judge Horton left us on 
February 22, 2006. His colleagues remember him as a thorough, patient 
judge who brought a pleasant demeanor to the bench. Judge Horton was a 
man who admirably served his country and State. He was a great 
Tennessean and it is my honor today to cosponsor a bill to memorialize 
his contribution to our country and the State of Tennessee.
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