[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   A TRIBUTE TO THE PHILADELPHIA PRIME MOVERS PROGRAM AND ACEL MOORE

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                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 26, 2010

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the 
Philadelphia Tribune, the oldest, continuously published African 
American owned newspaper in the nation. For 125 years the Tribune has 
chronicled the African American story while also being an important 
part of that story.
  The Tribune was founded in 1884 by Christopher Perry only 19 years 
after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Perry, born in Baltimore, 
Maryland, in 1856, moved to Philadelphia at the age of 17, intent on 
starting a newspaper. He said, ``For my people to make progress, they 
must have a newspaper through which they can speak against injustice.''
  Perry published the first edition of the Tribune Weekly when he was 
28. To put the debut of the one-page and one-man operation newspaper in 
an historical context, that same year African American inventor Lewis 
Lattimer began working for Thomas Edison, Tuskegee Institute was 
founded by Booker T. Washington and Harriet Tubman was still alive. 
After Perry died in 1921, the leadership of the newspaper passed to his 
son-in-law, E. Washington Rhodes.
  From 1922 to 1970, Rhodes was at the helm of the newspaper as 
publisher. An attorney, Rhodes was also an assistant U.S. Attorney for 
the Eastern District, appointed by President Calvin Coolidge. He was 
the first Black to be appointed to that position. Additionally, he 
served as president of the National Bar Association; was elected to the 
Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1938; and, was president of 
the National Publishers Association (NNPA), a national trade 
organization of African American owned newspapers.
  Over the past decades, committed to the newspaper's mission as stated 
by Perry, the Tribune has been led by Eustace Gay, John Saunders, 
Alfred Morris and Waverly Easley. And today, under the leadership of 
Chairman Walter Livingston, Jr., and President/CEO Robert Bogle, the 
Tribune newspaper continues to expand and has been the recipient of 
numerous national awards including the NNPA's John B. Russwurm Award 
for ``Best Newspaper in America Award and the A. Phillip Randolph 
``Messenger Award.''
  President Bogle stresses that after 125 years the mission of the 
Philadelphia Tribune has not changed very much. ``For 125 years the 
Tribune has been the voice of those who would have been voiceless.'' 
And, for that reason today Madam Speaker, I salute the proud history, 
advocacy and courage of the Philadelphia Tribune. The Tribune is an 
historic trailblazer whose light continues to lead on the path to 
justice and equality for the voiceless.

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