[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 22 (Monday, February 22, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H627-H630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be 
given 5 legislative days to enter remarks into the Record on this topic 
of Black History Month.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. FUDGE. I appreciate the opportunity to anchor this Special Order 
hour for the Congressional Black Caucus. Currently, the CBC is chaired 
by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of 
California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and I represent the 
11th Congressional District of Ohio.
  CBC members are advocates for human rights and advocates for 
families, nationally and internationally. We also play a significant 
role as local and regional activists. We work diligently to be the 
conscience of the Congress, but also provide dedicated and focused 
service to the citizens and congressional districts that have elected 
us.
  The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus 
was to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet 
the needs of millions of neglected citizens. It continues to be a 
beacon and focal point for the legislative work and political 
activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today. To celebrate the 
month of February, we are proud to present a reflection on black 
history. Specifically, we will herald the unsung history makers in our 
communities.
  The origin of Black History Month, just for the record, what we now 
call Black History Month, was originated in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson 
as Negro History Week. The month of February was selected in deference 
to Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in that 
month.
  The son of a slave, Carter G. Woodson was born in New Canton, 
Virginia, in 1875. He began high school at the age of 20 and then 
proceeded to study at Berea College, the University of Chicago, the 
Sorbonne, and Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1912.
  Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and 
History in 1915 to train black historians and to collect, preserve, and 
publish documents on black life and black people. He also founded the 
Journal of Negro History, Associated Publishers, and the Negro 
Bulletin. Woodson spent his life working to educate all people about 
the vast contributions made by black men and women throughout history. 
Mr. Woodson died in 1950. Black History Month continues his legacy of 
educating everyone about black history, which is American history.
  I am privileged to commend several amazing trailblazers within my 
congressional district's African American community.
  David Albritton. David Albritton lived from 1913 to 1994, a 
pioneering African American in the Ohio General Assembly. Interestingly 
enough, he was also a high jumper in the Olympic games.
  Albritton was born in Danville, Alabama, the hometown of Jesse Owens. 
Like Owens, Albritton was raised in the great city of Cleveland and 
became a track star at East Technical High School. Albritton also 
accompanied Owens to Ohio State University and the 1936 Olympic games 
in Berlin. During tryouts for the Olympics, he tied a world record of 6 
feet, 9\1/2\ inches in the high jump.
  In 1960, he moved into public service when he won a seat in the Ohio 
House of Representatives. In the House, he was named Chair of the House 
Interstate Cooperation Committee, making him the first African American 
in Ohio history to head a House committee. Albritton, a black hero 
raised in Cleveland, Ohio, is a member of the National Track and Field 
Hall of Fame, the Ohio Sport Hall of Fame, and the Ohio State Athletic 
Hall of Fame.
  Then, Madam Speaker, there is Harry Smith. Harry C. Smith was born in 
1863. He was a pioneer of the black press. Shortly after graduating 
from Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, he founded the Cleveland 
Gazette. The newspaper would become the longest publishing black weekly 
in America, earning its nickname ``The Old Reliable.'' It never missed 
a Saturday publication date in 58 years.
  Like Albritton, Smith was also a member of the Ohio General Assembly. 
In the course of his three-term career, Smith sponsored the Ohio Civil 
Rights Law of 1894 that established penalties against discrimination in 
public accommodations. In 1896, Smith sponsored the Mob Violence Act of 
1896, which was an antilynching law. Though he lost his bids for the 
Republican nomination for Governor in 1926 and in 1928, he broke ground 
as the first black candidate for the position of Governor.

                              {time}  1945

  Fannie Lewis: Fannie Lewis was a dynamic, revered, and respected 
member of Cleveland's City Council who passed away in 2008. Lewis was 
actually a native of Memphis, Tennessee, who moved north to Cleveland 
in 1951.
  A decade after she moved to her new hometown, she began her public 
life as a community activist in the Hough neighborhood. Even after she 
was elected to council in 1979, she kept her grassroots approach to 
politics--looking out for her hardworking constituents. Councilwoman 
Lewis fought relentlessly for her ward, never giving in and never 
giving up on Hough.
  This dedication led to the passage of the Fannie M. Lewis Cleveland 
Resident Employment law, which requires construction projects receiving 
$100,000 or more in funding from the city to employ people who live in 
the city on those projects.

[[Page H628]]

  Jane Edna Hunter: Jane Edna Hunter was a prominent African American 
social worker who founded Cleveland's Phyllis Wheatley Association.
  Born to a sharecropper, Hunter defied the odds and graduated with a 
nursing degree. She later attended Marshall Law School in Cleveland, 
and passed the Ohio bar examination.
  In addition to her legal career, Hunter was a dedicated 
philanthropist. She organized the Phyllis Wheatley Association in 1911 
to provide safe living quarters for unmarried African American women 
and girls.
  Following retirement, she founded the Phyllis Wheatley Foundation, a 
scholarship fund for African American high school graduates. She also 
founded the Women's Civic League of Cleveland, belonged to the NAACP, 
and served as vice president and executive committee member of the 
National Association of Colored Women.
  Highly esteemed around the Nation, Hunter was granted honorary 
degrees from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Allen University 
in Columbia, South Carolina, and Central State University in 
Wilberforce, Ohio.
  Mary Brown Martin: Mary Brown Martin, who championed academic 
achievement for all children, was the first black woman elected to the 
Cleveland Board of Education.
  She was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to former slaves. In 1886, 
she moved to Cleveland, where she graduated from Central High School in 
1900.
  In the 1920s, Martin was dedicated to teaching in the Cleveland 
public schools. She was profoundly dedicated to the students, and she 
advocated for their needs.
  To increase her advocacy for children, she ran and was elected to the 
Board of Education in 1930. She served three terms. The Mary B. Martin 
Elementary School on Brookline Avenue was named in honor of her 
service.
  Lastly, Madam Speaker, the black commanders of Cleveland: I 
congratulate Deputy Chief Prioleau Green, Commander Dwayne Drummond, 
Commander Ellis Johnson, Commander Dean McCaulley, Commander Leroy 
Morrow, and Commander Calvin Williams from Cleveland, Ohio.
  These outstanding law enforcement officers have honorably served and 
protected the people of Cleveland for more than 20 years, and they are 
still serving our city today. These outstanding officers were recently 
recognized by The Call and Post newspaper for their tireless service, 
exemplary leadership, and commitment to the community.
  I am proud they are among our police department's leadership--
protecting our people and risking their lives to keep our community 
safe.
  I am proud of all of these amazing black heroes who have given 
Cleveland its legacy of excellence and its legacy of activism. The 11th 
Congressional District of Ohio, which includes Cleveland, is a great 
place to live with its amazing history of black involvement and 
achievement.
  I now yield to my colleague from Texas, Representative Jackson Lee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Let me thank the Congresswoman from 
Cleveland, Ohio, Congresswoman Fudge, for her leadership on providing 
for the Congressional Record a recounting of the history of African 
American people and for particularly highlighting the notables of her 
congressional area.
  I rise today to join as a participant in the Congressional Black 
Caucus special hour celebrating black history. It's interesting that my 
friend and colleague started out with Dr. Woodson, who is called the 
``father of black history.'' I was sitting in church, at the Greater 
St. Matthew Church, where Pastor Gusta Booker is the presiding minister 
and pastor. In their black history program, a young man stood up and 
recounted the history of Carter G. Woodson.
  That is what black history is about--the carrying on of the story, 
the embedding of the history of a people who are part of this American 
landscape into the hearts and minds of our young leaders. That is what 
our purpose should be today, as our message will be forever embedded in 
the Congressional Record--that on this day, February 22, 2010, we stood 
to honor those who made a difference.
  In my congressional district, let me simply call the roll:
  Mr. John Chase, one of the first African American architects and, 
clearly, a person who paved the way for architects to follow.
  Dr. John B. Coleman, one of the first African American doctors. He 
has a highway named after him. His son is Representative Garnet 
Coleman, who is a leader in his own right and who is a senior member of 
the Texas legislature. The legacy continues.
  Dr. Zeb Poindexter, Sr., one of the first African American dentists 
who built a building and who began serving our community, and now his 
legacy is passed on to his son.
  Dr. Edith Irby Jones, one of the first graduates from the University 
of Arkansas Medical School, who has been in the practice of medicine in 
Houston, Texas, for 50 years.
  E.M. Knight, one of the champions of political advocates and social 
justice advocates, now passed, who advocated for the right of African 
Americans in Houston to vote.

  Christie Adair, of whom I had the privilege of sitting, in essence, 
at her feet as the first secretary of the NAACP, which was a real 
accomplishment for women during those days.
  Moses Leroy, a union fighter, an advocate for social justice.
  The Reverend C.L. Jackson, who followed a great pastor at the 
Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and who really was the first pastoral 
architect of the largest church in our community, a dome church, built 
when others said it could not be built.
  The Reverend Jack Yates, who organized and led the Fourth Ward/
Freedman's Town, who our Jack Yates High School is named after. This 
pastor was a social activist as well.
  The Reverend Bill Lawson, who came to Texas Southern University as a 
young pastor and led those students through the civil rights movement.
  Then I would like to emphasize the fact that out of these leaders 
comes so much, and much of it is done by members of the Congressional 
Black Caucus. Let me continue in the roll call:
  Constable A.B. Chambers, in Texas, the first African American 
constable-law enforcement officer in the history of the State of Texas, 
since passed.
  Constable May Walker, the first African American woman law 
enforcement officer and constable in the State of Texas.
  Chief Lee P. Brown, the first African American chief of police in 
Houston, Texas who came after a rough and often violent experience 
between the African American community and those who did not understand 
diversity. The chief of police brought such grand opportunities.
  Let me just finish so that I can show the nexus between these leaders 
in Houston, Texas, and the leaders whom I want to honor in the 
Congressional Black Caucus:
  Adam Clayton Powell, who chaired one of our most important 
committees, who was one of the architects of Medicare and Medicaid and 
who fought for the establishment of the Department of Labor and who 
fought for the opportunity for people to work.
  The Honorable Shirley Chisholm, who reminds us that she was unbossed 
and unbought and who reminded all of us that, even if named to the 
Agriculture Committee as the new freshman Congresswoman, she rose to be 
a fighter for justice but also to be an architect of legislation that 
helped her constituents in a place called Brooklyn, as she would say.
  Then my colleagues who were my predecessors:
  The Honorable Barbara Jordan, who said that she didn't mind being 
called a ``politician'' as long as she could be called a ``good 
politician.'' We will never forget her words ``we the people'' as she 
sat on the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon. She established 
the vitality of the Constitution, and we will be forever indebted to 
her voice and her words.
  Then, of course, the Honorable Mickey Leland, of which so much in 
this Congress is named after. But more importantly, he left a spirit of 
humanitarianism that has never been overcome. Mickey cared for those 
who could not care for themselves. He died on the side of an Ethiopian 
mountain, trying to feed those who were starving in Ethiopia, but he 
left in his memory many things, including the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim 
program, the Mickey Leland Internship and the Mickey Leland Hunger 
Center, because hunger has not been stamped out. Mickey's memory 
continues to be part of that.

[[Page H629]]

  My immediate predecessor, the Honorable Craig Washington, 25 years in 
the Texas State senate. At that time, he was known as the single 
champion for justice.
  As the Congresswoman from the 18th Congressional District, it is 
important to note that we are part of a synergism. That is what black 
history is about. So, when we talk about black radio, it was a creature 
of the advocacy of African Americans. When we talk about cable and 
about the expansion of diverse programming, it is a creature of African 
Americans in the United States Congress. When we now talk about health 
care reform and about speaking to the issues of disparities and of 
making sure that health care reform fits our communities, it is, in 
fact, a creature of the United States Congress and members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus.
  In conclusion, let me pay tribute to one Member whom I had the 
privilege of working with, Juanita Melinda McDonald. She passed. I am 
reminded that she became the first African American chairwoman of the 
House Administration Committee. What she did as a member of that 
committee was, again, to focus this Congress on the wide diversity of 
the Congress, helping to put the first portrait of an African American 
woman Congressperson--that had never been done. She helped to work with 
me and C. Delores Tucker on establishing the opportunity for the 
Sojourner Truth Bust to be placed in the United States Congress.
  We have so many giants, and this is a very important time to be able 
to say ``thank you'' to them. I stand with a great appreciation, and 
for this Congressional Record to reflect that, as we have had those who 
have gone on, what they have done has generated opportunities for so 
many today.
  I thank my colleague, and yield back.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very much.
  I now yield to my friend and colleague from the Virgin Islands, 
Representative Christensen.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, and thank you once 
again for holding this Special Order. I know how difficult it is to do 
this week after week, and we really appreciate all of your efforts.
  Madam Speaker, I join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus 
this evening in our tribute to Black History Month. Since we are 
largely a black community, I want to use this time to speak about my 
home district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the United States Virgin 
Islands.
  I feel the need to do this because the mainstream media and some of 
our colleagues have been treating my district as though we were not a 
part of this country. Recently, some of our Republican colleagues in 
this body have even taken to using funding to my district as the poster 
child for spending that Americans simply cannot afford. Because we have 
been blessed with sunshine and beaches, and because most Americans from 
the States have only the images of people at play to reference our 
territory, we are often targeted as not deserving of stimulus funding, 
as being too expensive to be funded in health care, as not requiring 
homeland security, even though it is for the protection of the entire 
United States as well as for us, as not deserving of our funding to 
preserve our precious natural areas, as too beautiful for Federal 
officials to come to for hearings and site visits that are done in 
other districts. There are other unfair characterizations that overlook 
the fact that we are a community with health, education, economic 
development, and other needs just like other districts represented in 
this body.

  We are Americans, and our people have fought and died in every 
conflict from the American Revolution through the world wars and right 
through to the present conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other points 
around the world. Today, 200 of my constituents are in Kosovo and 
Guantanamo, and others are about to be called up to other parts of the 
world. They serve in our National Guard. We are proud of them in their 
service. Like our sister territories, we have given more lives per 
capita in our wars and conflicts than most other States.
  Well, Madam Speaker and colleagues, we are tired of being spoken of 
as though we are not part of the American family, and I wanted to use 
this opportunity to point out the familial bonds which stretch all the 
way to the founding of this Nation.
  The Virgin Islands became a part of the American family in 1917 as 
this country needed a strategic presence in the Caribbean to help 
defend the Panama Canal during World War I. There was talk long before 
in the administration of President Abraham Lincoln of purchasing our 
island territories, but those talks stalled, and we were not to be 
transferred to U.S. authority until the Woodrow Wilson administration. 
During that time, our forefathers were not consulted about the sale and 
had no opportunity to say yea or nay. Yet we accepted our new Nation, 
as difficult and denigrating as those first years were for us, 
determined to make the best of it for us and for the United States of 
America. Let's go even further back than that.
  During the Revolutionary War, St. Croix served as a transshipment 
point for the gunpowder for the Revolutionary Army, not to mention that 
our rum, which some tend to malign today, helped warm the soldiers 
during those cold nights on the battlefield. We were major fueling and 
ship repair stops for ships of the new American Nation and for others 
crossing the Atlantic.
  One of our sons of the Marco Family, who served in the Revolutionary 
War, created the very first version of the flag for the 13 colonies. 
According to some accounts, the first salute to the stars and stripes 
occurred in the St. Croix harbor in 1776.
  So we are not new to the support of and loyalty to this country, and 
we have and continue to serve and honor it in any way we can. The 
Virgin Islands proudly count as one of our own one of the great 
Founding Fathers of this Nation, Alexander Hamilton. He, of course, is 
credited, among other important contributions, with creating the 
Nation's financial system, and he served as the first Secretary of the 
Treasury.

                              {time}  2000

  He came to St. Croix as a boy of about 9 years old, and it was his 
education and training there in the shipping industry that covered the 
American and Caribbean ports which laid the foundation for the path he, 
and, indeed, our country, was to follow.
  Many other early leaders of this country had ties to the Virgin 
Islands. There are many more, too numerous to name them all. But as we 
celebrate Black History Month, we can point to several other important 
persons who have helped to shape the United States that we know today. 
And note that I'm focusing on those who made their biggest 
contributions to our Nation. There are countless more also worthy of 
recognition who have guided and continue to guide us in the United 
States Virgin Islands.
  The first person I want to mention is William Alexander Leidesdorff, 
a native of St. Croix, credited with being the first black millionaire. 
He helped to build the City on the Bay. He was a member of San 
Francisco's first town council, helped create its first school, opened 
its first hotel, and was the city's first treasurer.
  J. Raymond Jones of New York, who was known as the Silver Fox of 
Tammany Hall in New York City, hailed from St. Thomas. Also born in St. 
Thomas, Terrence Todman served this country as ambassador for many 
distinguished years in Argentina, Denmark, and other countries.
  One of the intriguing writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen 
Imes, also hailed from our shores. Arthur Schomburg, for whom the 
Center for Research in Harlem is named, is from a St. Croix family. In 
the U.S. labor movement, St. Thomas's Ashley Totten was a lieutenant of 
A. Phillip Randolph in the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car 
Porters.
  Frank Rudolph Crosswaith, another labor luminary, created the Trade 
Union Committee for Organizing Negro Workers, the Negro Labor 
Committee, and became a founding member of the anti-Communist Union for 
Democratic Action.
  Famous American musicians who hailed from the U.S. Virgin Islands 
include Benny Benjamin, who wrote ``I Want to Set the World on Fire,'' 
and Jon Lucien, a jazz favorite for many generations. There are many, 
many others.
  In sports, we have Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs and Raja Bell 
of the

[[Page H630]]

Phoenix Suns. They follow in the footsteps of many other mainstays from 
the golden era of American baseball like Horace Clarke, Valmy Thomas, 
Joe Christopher, and all the others who came from the Virgin Islands. 
And we have many young stars who are making their name in track and 
field and other areas.
  Our boxing legends include Emile Griffith, Livingston Bramble, and 
Julian Jackson. There are many more, as I said, in sports that I can't 
name due to the time limitation.
  But there are also the hundreds of thousands of Virgin Islanders who 
over the 93 years that we have been a part of the American family have 
loved it and served it in so many other ways, just like our fellow 
citizens of the United States who are represented by my other 
colleagues. And all that we ask is that we, our contributions, our 
service, and our citizenship be recognized and given the appropriate 
respect.
  Madam Speaker, the Virgin Islands has a rich, diverse, long, loyal, 
and productive history as a part of the American family. Like many of 
our sister districts, we are also susceptible to all the challenges of 
our great country, such as the devastating recession, threats to our 
homeland, escalating crime, and the need for improvements in education 
and health care. Spending on the Virgin Islands and the other 
territories is not frivolous spending. And, by the way, much of those 
dollars that come to us are spent not only to improve the lives and 
services for our residents but for the millions of people from all over 
the United States who visit our shores every year.
  It has been hard for me as a representative of these proud Americans 
in the U.S. Virgin Islands to have to listen to the negative rhetoric 
coming from the other side of the aisle as I have sought to represent, 
like they do, my district. It has been painful to have to work so hard 
to get fair treatment in Medicaid, other health programs, and to get 
that fair treatment in health care reform, as well as to provide SSI 
for our individuals who have special needs.
  It has been difficult to have disparaging remarks made about our 
reported unemployment at 8.5 percent when the tools available in other 
States are not available to enable us to have an accurate count. When 
undertaken by our university some years ago when our unemployment was 
reportedly around 7 percent, a more thorough assessment determined that 
it was as high as 13 percent in St. Croix and a little less in St. 
Thomas, and that was during better times.
  I consider it to be a disservice that there might be Republican 
objections to holding a hearing in the Virgin Islands on the 
Constitution that our elected delegates have drafted for this Congress' 
consideration in the place where it will govern if passed and adopted. 
It's a milestone for any territory. And why? Because it's a beautiful 
place? I was to go to the Grand Canyon for a site visit today. It's a 
very beautiful place, and I don't think anyone objected to that.

  Madam Speaker and my colleagues, thank you for the time to speak 
about this important part of our country's black history, our country's 
history, and the opportunity to remind those who don't seem to know 
that we are proudly American and that we ask nothing more than to be 
treated as such.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very much.
  Madam Speaker, those of us who have had the privilege and the 
pleasure and the honor to serve in this House, we create history every 
day. Every single day. I just hope that all of my colleagues will make 
their service worthy of emulation, that it will be a source of pride to 
our people, and that we will encourage others to seek a life in public 
service.
  So many people look at what they call ``politicians'' as such a dirty 
word. I am a public servant. I get up every day, and every morning when 
I leave my apartment, I say, I am going to do the people's work. That 
is my job. That is what I was brought here to do. I hope there is 
someone out there who recognizes what we do, who understands the 
significance of who we are, and they will feel the same sense of pride 
we feel today talking about all of the people on whose shoulders we 
stand today.
  Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing us to have this hour this 
evening. It is always a sense of pride for our people to know that we 
are still fighting the good fight and we understand from whence we have 
come.

                          ____________________