[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 115 (Monday, July 14, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF ONESEPHOR PETER (O.P.) 
                               BROUSSARD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 14, 2008

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to extend my 
deepest sympathies to the family of Onesephor Peter Broussard, a 
constituent and citizen of Pleasantville, Texas, and a tireless civil 
rights advocate, who passed away June 25, 2008, at the age of 81.
  Born in Louisiana to sharecropper parents, Mr. Broussard served in a 
segregated Army unit during World War II, in the battalion known as the 
Black Panthers. After returning to the States, Mr. Broussard served as 
a union organizer at Armco Steel, where he worked for 35 years.
  But what truly distinguished Mr. Broussard, was his endless fight for 
civil rights, specifically for the integration of the Houston 
Independent School District. In 1966, Mr. Broussard and his wife filed 
a lawsuit against HISD to stop a project that would encourage de facto 
segregation. The suit eventually went to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of 
Appeals, where the judges unfortunately refused to halt the program. 
Despite this, Mr. Broussard's eldest son, Richard Broussard, became the 
first African-American freshman at McReynolds High School in the Fifth 
Ward of Houston, TX. It was only thanks to his father's tireless 
struggle that Richard, and his siblings, were able to gain the good 
education that their father had never had.
  In addition to this civil rights work, Mr. Broussard served as an 
officer in the Pleasantville Civic League, and as director of the Gulf 
Coast Community Action Board and the Community Development Commission. 
He dedicated his life to helping others, and this made him a true 
leader in every way. O.P. was a civil rights pioneer and a good friend.
  He will be greatly missed by the Pleasantville community and by all 
those who knew him, and I ask that you remember the Broussard family in 
your thoughts and prayers.

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