[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 6, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1203-E1204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    H.R. 198 ``RECOGNIZING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH''

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 5, 2007

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong 
support of H.R. 198, which recognizes the significance of Black History 
Month.
  Madam Speaker, it is easy to forget the past, especially a past that 
is so painful for so many. But I think we all recognize that the story 
of blacks in America is one that is truly uplifting and gives us the 
spirit to believe that any accomplishment is possible if we strive for 
it.
  I want to take this opportunity today to talk about the black history 
that is too often ignored. Let me start by saying that we all revere 
the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. We love the leaders of the Civil 
Rights Movement. I am deeply grateful that this Nation has a day to 
honor Dr. King and that we have a Black History Month so that our 
children may understand the struggle that black Americans had to endure 
just to get to this point.
  Madam Speaker, the history of blacks in America did not begin and end 
with the Civil Rights Movement. We need to remind everyone that the 
America we know today was built in substantial part by the skill, 
labor, intelligence, and determination of African Americans. These 
black pioneers succeeded despite the oppression they openly faced.
  That's the history I want to talk about today. I want to talk about 
black Americans whose accomplishments have sometimes been overlooked. 
Their greatness in the face of adversity is what makes me so proud to 
be an African American.
  So many oppressed people have had to surrender their souls, their 
hopes and their dreams because of the hardship they have been forced to 
face. However, black history is full of men and women who faced their 
hardships head on and refused to accept what they were told was their 
destiny. Instead, they instead looked at what they were given and dared 
to believe that not only could they improve upon it, but that they 
could strive for achievements almost unimaginable to any American. 
These great figures of black history are our past; they are our future. 
They are our compass as we move forward into this new generation.
  I am proud to be a member of Congress representing the great State of 
Texas. In the 211 years of congressional history there have been 105 
African American Members of Congress. We tend to think that before the 
Civil Rights Movement black Americans had no ability to represent 
themselves in government. Despite the tremendous obstacles of 
intimidation and harassment that were faced by black Americans who 
sought and won election to political office.
  Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American member of 
Congress. During the Civil War, he helped organize Maryland's first two 
black regiments for the U.S. Army. In February 1870, he was elected 
from Mississippi to the United States Senate seat formerly held by 
Jefferson Davis. Hiram Rhodes Revels was in an extraordinary position, 
not only was he the first African American in Congress only a few years 
after the Civil War had ended, but he was representing a State where 
black men had only been in positions of servitude.
  His seat in the Senate did not come without great controversy; a 
great debate arose in the Senate as to whether a man of color was 
entitled to a seat in our Nation's legislative body. However, it was 
the great Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts who made the closing 
argument for Revels' admission, declaring: ``All men are created equal, 
says the great Declaration, and now a great act attests to this verity. 
Today we make the Declaration a reality.''
  During his time in the Senate, Hiram Revels voted to forgive 
officials from the secessionist States, who had broken their oaths to 
uphold the Constitution, as he made great efforts to unite a war-torn 
Nation. After leaving the Senate, Revels returned to Mississippi, where 
he became the founding president of Alcorn College. His life was one of 
tremendous achievement against the backdrop of the turbulent 
Reconstruction era.
  Almost 100 years after Hiram Rhodes Revels was elected to the U.S. 
Senate, Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman 
elected to Congress, when she was elected to represent New York's 
Twelfth Congressional District in 1968 running on the slogan, 
``Fighting Shirley Chisholm--Unbought and Unbossed.''

  She reflected that spirit well during her 14 years in Congress. 
During her first term she spoke out for civil rights, women's rights, 
and the poor and against the Vietnam War. Her first term in Congress 
was set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement and the 
women's movement for equal rights.
  Shirley Chisholm had an understanding that during those turbulent 
times the nation required a determined leader to represent the voice of 
so many Americans who felt dismay at their treatment. She took an 
extremely active role in changing the way women were to be judged from 
that point on. She remarked that, ``Women in this country must become 
revolutionaries. We must refuse to accept the old, the traditional 
roles and stereotypes.''
  This is a sentiment that I myself take to heart. Women in this Nation 
are now told they have a right to determine the kind of life they want 
to lead; Shirley Chisholm was at the core of this movement.
  On January 25, 1972, Chisholm announced her candidacy for President. 
She stood before the cameras and in the beginning of her speech she 
said, ``I stand before you today as

[[Page E1204]]

a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the 
United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am 
black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this 
country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am 
not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am 
the candidate of the people.''
  Shirley Chisholm did not win the nomination; but she went on to the 
Democratic Convention in Miami and received 151 delegates' votes. More 
than that, she demonstrated the will and determination of so many 
Americans who had previously felt forgotten, she had lighted a fire 
under so many who had felt disenfranchised.
  Despite being separated by almost a century Hiram Rhodes Revels and 
Shirley Chisholm led very similar lives. They both were in positions of 
great responsibility during times when this Nation was under a great 
burden. The true greatness of their story is not just that they 
overcame the oppression they faced, but that they had the courage to 
help remedy a Nation that in many ways had spited them. They refused to 
bend their principles to the hatred they faced; they were true pioneers 
in leadership.
  They are my role models in Congress not only because they are African 
American but because they represent the kind of leaders that America 
has always needed at times of adversity, they had a spirit and a 
courage that could not be broken, they had a vision of America that 
exceeded most of their peers.
  I am very proud to be a Member of Congress from the city of Houston, 
a city that is home to NASA. This Nation has been blessed to have been 
the pioneer in space exploration. However, one of our greatest 
accomplishments has been that not only have we sent men to space, but 
that we have sent different men and women who represent the spirit of 
this great Nation.
  Major Lawrence was the first African American astronaut who trained 
at NASA. In 1983 Guion Bluford became the first African American to fly 
in space. He went on to serve on three more NASA missions and logged 
over 688 hours in space. Before becoming an astronaut, Maj. Guion 
Bluford flew 144 combat missions in Vietnam. Tragically, Ron McNair 
lost his life in the tragic Challenger accident, but we all will 
forever remember his great accomplishments. Mae C. Jemison also became 
the first African American female to fly in space.
  In less than a century and a half blacks in America had gone from the 
chains of slavery to the surface of the moon. Physically this is an 
amazing accomplishment, but spiritually these great men and women 
throughout black history could have accomplished what they did without 
those who came before them. Each great black man or woman gave hope to 
future generations and recognition to the fact that no amount of 
oppression could suppress a true vision of a greater America.
  The African American community continues to rise; this is still a 
beginning for us not an end. The vision for America that so many black 
Americans strived for is not yet complete. There are many more great 
black minds and souls that this Nation will be blessed to experience. I 
look forward to seeing our progress, I delight in our great history but 
I am really looking forward to our future progress.
  For all these reasons, Madam Speaker, I am pleased and proud to 
support H.R. 198, which gives due recognition to the significance of 
Black History Month.

                          ____________________