[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 48 (Thursday, March 19, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E719-E720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE REVEREND CLAUDE WILLIAM BLACK, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CHARLES A. GONZALEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 19, 2009

  Mr. GONZALEZ. Madam Speaker, after 92 years of service to others, the 
Reverend Claude William Black Jr. died on March 13, 2009. A lifelong 
San Antonian, Reverend Black was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, 
working with A. Philip Randolph, the

[[Page E720]]

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others. But to all of San 
Antonio, Reverend Black was so much more than the associate of great 
men; he was a great man and a great friend.
  After graduating from the Andover Newton Theological School, Reverend 
Black spent eight years ministering to congregations in Massachusetts 
and Corpus Christi before returning to San Antonio to become the 
minister of the Mount Zion First Baptist Church in 1949. He would lead 
the congregation as its pastor for the next 49 years and as pastor 
emeritus until his death. Under Reverend Black's leadership, Mount Zion 
would become a cornerstone of San Antonio, providing day care, senior 
citizen services, and, since 1966, a church-owned Credit Union.
  Reverend Black was a leading voice in San Antonio's civil rights 
movement, protesting segregation and bigotry in the face of threats and 
assaults on himself and his family. When arsonists burned Mount Zion to 
the ground in 1974, Reverend Black began the process of rebuilding 
while the ashes were still warm, telling the city council that, while 
the building might be gone, his church lived on.
  As a member of San Antonio's City Council from 1973 to 1978, Reverend 
Black was the city's first black mayor pro-tem. He left the Council so 
that he might dedicate more of his time to other projects and to 
provide opportunities for the next generation of leaders to make their 
mark in the City's government.
  And that was the kind of man Reverend Black was: indefatigable in 
working for the causes in which he believed, yet always conscious of 
the roles that others might play and ready to encourage their 
involvement. Generations of San Antonians have benefited from his work 
and his tutelage. While Reverend Black himself is now gone, the 
foundation he laid down will serve our community for generations more.

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