[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 22 (Monday, February 22, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E191-E192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE GERALDINE 
                              F. THOMPSON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ALAN GRAYSON

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 22, 2010

  Mr. GRAYSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the community 
activism of Florida House Representative Geraldine Thompson. State 
Representative Thompson grew up in the South Dade town of Perrine, 
Florida. She attended Miami Dade Community College and received a John 
F. Kennedy/Martin Luther King, Jr., Scholarship to attend the 
University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where she enrolled 
shortly after that school ended racial segregation. In 1970, she 
received a bachelor's degree with honors in journalism and business 
education. She moved with her husband, Emerson, to Tallahassee where he 
attended law school and she worked in State government and higher 
education. Her first position in Tallahassee was as executive secretary 
to Representative Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry, the first African-American 
woman to serve in the Florida House of Representatives. After working 
for several years, she sought a master of science degree in 
communication from Florida State University, which she received in 
1973. She then joined her husband in Orlando and immediately became 
active in the central Florida community.
  She began work in Orlando as a teacher in the Orange County Public 
School System. After 6 years, she left the classroom to accept a 
position as director of the Equal Opportunity Office at Valencia 
Community College where she served for 24 years as assistant to the 
president. Among her many accomplishments at Valencia Community 
College, she initiated the establishment of the ``College Reach Out 
Program'' which enabled thousands of low income and disadvantaged 
students to fulfill their dream of going to college. She also served on 
the boards of the Orange County Community Action Advisory, the 
Metropolitan Orlando Urban League, WMFE Public Broadcasting Station, 
the YMCA, the Mayor's Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission, the 
Holocaust Memorial and Resource Center, and the West Orange Healthcare 
District. In 1987, she was appointed by Governor Bob Graham to the 
Florida Commission on Human Relations. She received confirmation from 
the Florida Senate and remained on the Commission during the terms of 
Governor Lawton Chiles, where she was elected by her fellow 
commissioners to serve as chair.
  Also considered a local historian, her passion for history led her to 
conducting research

[[Page E192]]

and compiling documents which resulted in authoring a book entitled, 
``Black America Series: Orlando, Florida,'' in 2003. She is also 
credited with preserving one of Orlando's unique landmarks, The Wells' 
Built Hotel, which housed some of America's most prominent citizens, 
including Justice Thurgood Marshall, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, 
Jackie Robinson and many more. She helped to secure funds to convert 
the hotel into a museum which is known today as The Wells' Built Museum 
of African American History.
  In November of 2006, she was elected by the constituents of District 
39 in Orlando to serve as the first African-American female to 
represent Orange County in the Florida House of Representatives. During 
her tenure in the House she has filed legislation to outlaw the 
mutilation of young women, increase penalties for hate crime 
perpetrators, provide $1.8 million in trust fund monies for a student 
who was injured in a local public school, and increase access to 
healthcare for women diagnosed with breast cancer. On November 18, 
2008, she was unanimously selected by her legislative colleagues to 
serve as the Democratic Leader Pro Tempore, the second highest ranking 
Democrat in the Florida House of Representatives.
  Madam Speaker, as Black History Month comes to a close, it is with 
great honor that I highlight my friend and fellow champion for human 
and civil rights Geraldine ``Geri'' Thompson. State Representative 
Thompson has been a crucial advocate for women's rights and the 
African-American community. She is a true role model and example of 
what a public servant should be. Her numerous contributions will leave 
a lasting legacy in our central Florida community, in the state of 
Florida, and for her family. I know her husband, the Honorable Emerson 
R. Thompson, Jr., and her three children, Laurise, Emerson III, and 
Elizabeth, and her four grandchildren are proud of what she has 
accomplished. We all benefit from her service and dedication.

                          ____________________