[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 3, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E146]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING MEDGAR EVERS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. AL GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 2, 2010

  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H. Res. 1022, 
a resolution honoring the life and sacrifice of Medgar Evers and 
congratulating the United Sates Navy for naming a supply ship after 
him.
  I would like to thank my colleague, Henry C. ``Hank'' Johnson, for 
introducing this significant piece of legislation.
  On October 9, 2009, the United States Navy announced that the Lewis 
and Clark dry cargo and ammunition ship would be named. United States 
Navy Ship Medgar Evers.
  The U.S. Navy's dedication to Medgar Evers recognizes the slain civil 
rights pioneer who led efforts to secure the right to vote for all 
African-Americans and to integrate public facilities, schools, and 
restaurants.
  Medgar Evers rose to prominence in the civil rights movement in his 
home state of Mississippi. He discovered his passion for activism while 
working for the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, which he began in 
1951 upon graduating from Alcorn University.
  Appointed Mississippi's first field secretary for the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Evers 
established local chapters of the NAACP throughout the Delta region.
  As an NAACP worker, Medgar Evers fought against segregation and Jim 
Crow laws by organizing boycotts on gasoline stations that refused to 
allow blacks to use their restrooms. His boycott of Jackson, 
Mississippi merchants in the early 1960's attracted national attention, 
and his effort to have James Meredith admitted to the University of 
Mississippi in 1962 brought much needed federal assistance.
  In 1963, Evers met an untimely death when he was assassinated in his 
driveway. He was murdered just hours after President John F. Kennedy's 
speech on national television in support of civil rights. However, 
Medgar Evers' sacrifice and legacy of challenging racism and 
segregation endures today.
  I join my colleagues in honoring Medgar Evers and applaud the U.S. 
Navy for recognizing him by naming one of its vessels after such a 
great American activist.

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