[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 105 (Tuesday, July 14, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO MAMIE NICHOLS

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                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 14, 2009

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Mrs. Mamie 
Nichols, a pioneering activist and community organizer for more than 60 
years, who died July 1 at the age of 91. Born Mamie Melton in Norfolk, 
Virginia her family moved to Philadelphia and settled in the Point 
Breeze section of South Philadelphia when she was a young child.
  She grew up in Point Breeze and married and raised her six children 
in Point Breeze. But her 88-block neighborhood had been given a death 
sentence by officials in the Philadelphia Office of Housing and 
Community Development. Mamie Nichols said she was told by city 
officials that Point Breeze could not be saved from urban decay and the 
city was letting it die a natural death.
  But Mamie Nichols fought back. Fueled with anger, pride, 
determination and charm, Mrs. Nichols is credited with saving her 
neglected community. She founded the Point Breeze Federation and she 
was a prime mover in the founding of the Childs Elementary School Home 
and School Association. Her organization established the Point Breeze 
Performing Arts Center and transformed the long shuttered Landreth 
School into senior citizens apartments and a community center. She was 
also named to the Philadelphia Planning Commission and served as a 
member of the board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Horticultural 
Society, Philadelphia Green and the Philadelphia Urban Affairs 
Coalition. And, along her journey she planted flowers in what was to be 
the greening of Point Breeze.
  Mamie Nichols is remembered with deep love and respect by what Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to as the beloved community.

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