[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 148 (Monday, November 15, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7880-S7881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO DR. MARGARET BURROUGHS AND BISHOP ARTHUR BRAZIER

  Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, every day we walk the hallowed Halls of 
the U.S. Capitol, a building filled with statues, busts, and paintings 
honoring great Americans--Lincoln, Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King 
Jr., names we will never forget because they are the individuals who 
built and altered the foundation of this country.
  But we must also never forget to recognize those Americans who may 
not appear in our history books but whose contributions have helped 
write our American story, great Americans like Dr. Margaret Burroughs 
who became a legend in her own time.
  Dr. Margaret Burroughs is a true American treasure--an artist, 
advocate, poet, and progressive. She celebrated her 93rd birthday this 
month and today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring her.
  Born in Louisiana before women could vote, Dr. Burroughs moved to the 
south side of Chicago when she was five, eventually studying at both 
Englewood High School and Chicago State University.
  Politically active from an early age, Dr. Burroughs and classmate 
Gwendolyn Brooks joined the NAACP Youth Council, and her ambitions only 
grew from there.
  She taught art at DuSable High School for 23 years, and taught 
humanities at Kennedy King College for over a decade.
  For most, a 30-year career teaching thousands of students would be 
enough. But for Dr. Burroughs, her life in education was just one part 
of her story. This extraordinary woman always opened her doors to 
friends and colleagues. Her coach-house flat became a social center, 
which many called ``little Bohemia.''
  She worked tirelessly to establish the South Side Community Art 
Center, opening in 1940. And she nursed her growing interest in the 
arts by studying at the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned her 
master's of fine arts in 1948.
  An established painter and printmaker in her own right, Dr. Burroughs 
began exhibitions in 1949, showing her work all over the United States 
and abroad.
  She was generous enough to gift several of her works to my daughter, 
and several more adorn the walls of my Home and Senate offices in 
Chicago.
  When she founded the DuSable Museum of African-American History in 
1961, Dr. Burroughs established herself as one of the outstanding 
institution builders of her generation.
  Once again, Dr. Burroughs created a place for people to come 
together. The museum that began on the ground floor of her Chicago home 
is now located in Washington Park and has become an internationally 
recognized resource for African-American art.
  Dr. Burroughs served as a director of the museum she founded until 
her appointment as a commissioner of the Chicago Park District in 1985.
  She has always been committed to the progressive cause, and she has 
been a prolific writer over the long course of her rich lifetime.
  Dr. Burroughs contributed to ``Freedomways,'' a publication founded 
by W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson, both heroes of hers. She served as 
art director for the Negro Hall of Fame. She has illustrated a number 
of children's books. She is an accomplished poet, with poems that 
triumph African and African-American culture. And she served as an 
early and often lonely pioneer of black awareness, her writings 
provided a beacon of hope for a younger generation.
  Her paintings, poems and prints alone make Dr. Margaret Burroughs an 
important part of American history.
  But her desire to pass knowledge, hope, and inspiration to future 
generations means Dr. Burroughs will also be a significant part of the 
fabric of our nation.
  Tens of thousands of African Americans have been touched by her art, 
taught in her classrooms, motivated by her words, and inspired by the 
institutions she helped create.
  In her 1968 poem, ``What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?,'' 
she writes about how we can encourage future generations of African 
Americans.
  And as she celebrates 93 years on this Earth, I ask my colleagues to 
join me in thanking her for her service. We know that her life's work 
will long be remembered by future generations: an extraordinary life of 
an educator, an artist, a poet, and an inspiration.
  Likewise, I would like to present a eulogy for a second great 
American.
  Many towering figures of American history have walked these halls, 
leaving their legacy written across our shared history. And one 
American whose life and work have made a deep and indelible mark on 
this Nation is Bishop Arthur Brazier, who passed just last month after 
a lifetime of leadership.
  Those who knew the Bishop personally called him ``one of our nations 
great moral lights,'' ``a stalwart of the city of Chicago,'' ``father, 
leader, and friend.''
  Bishop Brazier was born and raised on the South Side. After just 1 
year at Phillips High School, he dropped out to find work and was 
promptly drafted into the army where he served as a staff sergeant in 
India and Myanmar, then known as Burma. Discharged in 1945, he returned 
to Chicago where he met his future wife.
  At the age of 26, Brazier was baptized. He took a job as a mail 
carrier but felt a deep urge to preach. So he began studying at night 
at the Moody Bible Institute, a place at which my wife served as a 
professor, and in 1952 became pastor of the Universal Church of Christ.
  Eight years later, he merged his congregation with that of the 
Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn where he was the pastor for more 
than 48 years--building a congregation of over 20,000 members.

[[Page S7881]]

  For decades, Bishop Brazier fought gangs and crime and pushed for 
more affordable homes and better schools.
  As founding president of The Woodlawn Organization--a group aimed at 
shepherding his South Side community through racial unrest and 
neighborhood upheaval--he opposed plans by the nearby University of 
Chicago to expand, which would have displaced residents and use land he 
anticipated developing into low-income housing.
  Bishop Brazier taught the people of Chicago and perhaps the people of 
the United States to always look forward instead of looking back, 
saying: ``I do not think it behooves us well to keep talking about the 
past. The American theme is not the America of history.''
  All Americans can benefit from such a profound legacy. The life of 
Bishop Brazier is a story of expanding equality and opportunity, of 
people and institutions grappling with social change and striving to 
live up to the promises of equality they innately know belong to them.
  Because of Bishop Brazier we are reminded to care for the poor, to 
focus on spiritual strength rather than material wealth, and that we 
too can make a difference in our communities.
  Bishop Brazier's passing has no doubt left a void in the American 
landscape. But because of his life, his sacrifice, and his great 
service, we have the foundations for a better tomorrow.
  My prayers are with his wife Isabelle Brazier; his son Bryon Brazier; 
his three daughters, Lola Hillman, Janice Dortch and Rosalyn Shepherd; 
and the countless family members and friends who loved and followed 
this great man.
  Mr. President, it is a great honor and privilege that I stand on the 
floor of the Senate and speak on behalf of these two great Americans, 
these great Chicagoans and Illinoisans who have done so much for our 
city, our State, and our Nation. It is my hope and prayer, as my 
parting words to this U.S. Senate, that these individuals will be 
memorialized in the archives of this great body.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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