[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 33 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO RACHEL BASSETTE NOEL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 28, 2008

  Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Speaker. I rise to honor the extraordinary life 
and exceptional accomplishments of Rachel Bassette Noel. This 
remarkable public servant merits our recognition and esteem as her 
leadership, service and lifelong devotion to civil liberty and equal 
opportunity has done much to advance the lives of our people.
  Rachel Noel has been celebrated as ``a pioneer for equity,'' ``a 
woman of valor,'' and ``a magnificent rebel.'' She demanded the dignity 
due to all people. She sought to unfetter the great potential of our 
children and she did her part, in no small measure, to tear down the 
walls of segregation and remove the barriers to equal education. 
Although many individuals have made notable contributions to our 
community and state, few have left a legacy of progress as has Rachel 
Noel.
  Rachel Noel was born 1918 in Hampton, Virginia--in the segregated 
South. Her father, A.W.E. Bassette, was a lawyer and her mother was a 
teacher. They instilled in her the value and importance of a good 
education and Rachel Noel went on to graduate with a bachelor's degree 
from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) and earned a master's 
degree in sociology from Fisk University. After World War II, she and 
her husband, Dr. Edmond F. Noel, moved west and settled in Denver in 
1950. As in the segregated South, they encountered discrimination and 
racial bias in Denver. Dr. Noel practiced medicine in the Five Points 
community and was the first African American surgeon in Colorado, yet 
he was denied operating room privileges in every city hospital except 
the Jewish hospital, General Rose (now Rose Medical Center). Rachel 
Noel also encountered many closed doors in Denver before taking a job 
with the Denver Human Rights Commission.
  The couple persevered and by the time Rachel Noel won election to the 
Board of the Denver Public Schools (DPS) in 1965, she was already 
recognized for her work on behalf of children. She became the first 
African American to serve on the DPS Board and the first African 
American woman elected to public office in Colorado. Three years into 
her term, she introduced the famous Noel Resolution which called for 
the superintendent to develop a plan to integrate the Denver Public 
Schools. The resolution was precipitated by the assassination of Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Rachel Noel noted that ``when King died, 
rhetoric no longer seemed adequate.'' Her resolution brought death 
threats and after much community opposition, it passed in 1970. The 
United States Supreme Court eventually affirmed the intent of her 
resolution in its landmark decision of 1973, Keyes v. Denver School 
District No. 1, calling for mandatory desegregation of Denver's public 
schools, including busing for racial balance. The Denver Post noted 
that ``the citizenry at large would debate the best means for achieving 
equality and opportunity for all its students--but that goal itself 
would never again be called into question.'' I would simply add that 
Rachel Noel's endeavors raised the bar. She moved the public policy 
debate in our community and this country from simply opening segregated 
schools to achieving a new balance--a new equity--in public education 
that did not previously exist. But extending the benefits of equal 
education to those who had been denied it was more than just enforcing 
laws. It was about redeeming lost futures and creating opportunity so 
that all young people could make the most of their lives and share in 
our prosperity.
  Rachel Noel joined the faculty of Metropolitan Sate College in 1969. 
She taught sociology and African American studies and served as chair 
of the African American Studies Department from 1971 to 1980. In 1976, 
Governor Richard Lamm appointed Rachel Noel to serve on the University 
of Colorado Board of Regents and she was subsequently elected statewide 
in1978 to become the first African American elected to the Board of 
Regents and serve as chair of the board. She also chaired Mayor 
Federico Pena's Black Advisory Council; served as a Commissioner of 
Denver Housing Authority; served on the Advisory Board of the United 
States Civil Rights Commission; served on Mayor Wellington Webb's Black 
Advisory Committee; and served as a member of the Chancellor's Advisory 
Committee for Health Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder 
and Denver. She was also an active member of Shorter Community African 
Methodist Episcopal Church, the Links and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
  In 1981, Rachel Noel was honored with the establishment of the Rachel 
B. Noel Distinguished Professorship to foster multiculturalism, 
diversity and academic excellence at Metropolitan State College. She 
was the recipient of numerous accolades and awards including: the 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award in 1990; induction into the 
Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996; the Wiley A. Branton Award from 
the National Bar Association in 2001; the Anti-Defamation League's 
Civil Rights Award in 2004; and the Honorary Doctor of Public Service 
degree from the University of Denver. In 2002, the Denver Public 
Schools named a middle school in Northeast Denver in her honor, the 
Rachel B. Noel Middle School.
  Rachel Noel was an unrelenting advocate for the causes that elevate 
the human condition and she served all of us with eminent distinction. 
She saw great opportunity for progress and seized it. She had the 
courage to tell us that we were not keeping faith with our nation's 
ideals and that we needed to move forward. Moreover, she knew that we 
as Americans have an enormous capacity to do better and that we have a 
moral obligation to do so. Truly, we are all diminished by the passing 
of this remarkable person.
  Rachel Noel lived a life that is rich in consequence and we are 
better and stronger due to her labors on our behalf. Our thoughts and 
prayers are with her daughter Angie, her son Buddy and her entire 
family. Please join me in paying tribute to the life of Rachel B. Noel, 
a distinguished public servant and advocate for civil liberty.

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