[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 13, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING SHEILA JOHNSON

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 13, 2010

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of 
Representatives to join me, as we celebrate Women's History Month, by 
honoring Sheila Johnson, who has used her historic business 
achievements in sports and entertainment to empower and energize 
communities and people of all backgrounds, especially women, throughout 
the United States and other parts of the world.
  Sheila Johnson has been called ``a great American success story,'' 
and continues to be a history-maker and a special inspiration to girls 
and women. She first made history as co-founder of the first African 
American owned cable network, providing entertainment and news to a 
primarily African American audience.
  No woman in American history has simultaneously cracked open two 
supercharged, male-dominated fields: sports ownership and 
entertainment. Sheila Johnson is the first African American woman to 
have ownership in three professional sports franchises: the Washington 
Mystics, the Washington Wizards, and the Washington Capitals. She's the 
first African American woman to purchase a major, luxury golf resort, 
Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf and Spa Resort, which hosts the PGA 
Tour's Transition Championships and the LPGA Legends Tour's Open 
Championship.
  Sheila Johnson also has been a leader in supporting great neglected 
issues, many involving women. She was executive producer of ``A 
Powerful Noise,'' a documentary that examines the lives of three women 
living with HIV/AIDS in different parts of the world; ``She Is the 
Matador,'' a movie depicting the history of women's challenges to male-
only bullfighting laws in Spain; and ``The Other City,'' about the HIV/
AIDS crisis in Washington, D.C. She invested in the film ``Kicking 
It,'' a documentary that illuminated the Annual Homeless World Cup, 
which attracts homeless men from around the world to raise awareness 
and funds to end homelessness.
  Sheila Johnson's life has also been about service and the arts. She 
funded a $4 million CARE campaign to fight global poverty, focusing on 
women, and was named a global ambassador for CARE. President Barack 
Obama appointed her to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts 
and Humanities.
  Sheila Johnson has set a different course for young women of all 
backgrounds in pursuit of excellence, through her living example. Madam 
Speaker, I ask that the House of Representatives join me in honoring 
Sheila Johnson.

                          ____________________