[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 13, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  A TRIBUTE TO REV. WALTER E. FAUNTROY, FORMER MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF 
    REPRESENTATIVES, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 50TH ANNIVERSARY AT AND 
               RETIREMENT FROM NEW BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 13, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise for the uniquely important occasion 
of honoring a man I am pleased to call a personal friend, but more 
important, a distinguished former member of the House of 
Representatives, and my predecessor, Walter E. Fauntroy, on the 
occasion of his 50th anniversary and simultaneous retirement as pastor 
from the New Bethel Baptist Church, one of the great churches in our 
Nation's capital. Many of you remember Rev. Fauntroy as your 
distinguished colleague. You already know that Walter has lived the 
lives of several men--a distinguished minister, a Member of this 
Congress, a civil rights leader, a scholar, a devoted husband and a 
father. Consequently, when America hears the name Walter Fauntroy, we 
think of more than one man, because he has done the work of several 
energetic men, often at the same time. It is difficult to find an 
American who has played so many important leadership roles and who has 
been so deeply a part of actually weaving a new fabric of equality and 
justice for our country.
  Rev. Fauntroy was sworn in as a Member of the House of 
Representatives, the District of Columbia's first delegate in the 20th 
century, on March 23, 1971. For 10 terms, he helped shape national 
policy, serving on important committees and subcommittees, including 
the House, Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee, the 
Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy, which he chaired for 6 years, 
and the Subcommittee on International Development, Finance, Trade, and 
Monetary Policy, which he chaired, for 4 years. As a Member, 
Congressman Fauntroy also chaired the Bipartisan/Bicameral Task Force 
on Haiti for 15 years. Before I was elected, I was pleased to join 
Congressman Fauntroy and two others at a sit-in at the South African 
Embassy to launch the ``Free South Africa'' movement, which ultimately 
led to the end of apartheid. Congressman Fauntroy is very fondly 
remembered here as a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus 
and was its chair from 1981 to 1983.
  Before the District of Columbia achieved home rule, President Lydon 
B. Johnson appointed Rev. Fauntroy to the DC city council, where he 
served from 1967 to 1969. For his leadership in the home rule struggle, 
the people of the District of Columbia showed their confidence in Rev. 
Fauntroy by electing him to the House of Representatives. In Congress, 
Fauntroy was a father of home rule for the District of Columbia, which 
allowed the District to elect its own Mayor and city council.
  Even before his election, Fauntroy was a national figure in the civil 
rights movement and a key advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. 
King named him director of his Washington bureau of the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference and national coordinator of the Poor 
People's Campaign. He later was chair of the board of directors of the 
Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia.
  I am pleased to join the congregation of New Bethel Baptist Church 
and I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Rev. Walter Fauntroy for 
his unusually successful and dedicated life of service to the people of 
the United States of America, the residents of the District of 
Columbia, and the congregation of the New Bethel Baptist Church.