[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 142 (Thursday, September 22, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSWOMAN CARRIE MEEK

                                  _____
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 22, 2011

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, as a 30-year colleague of 
Congresswoman Carrie Meek of Miami, I submit this tribute to honor of 
my dear, dear friend. Ms. Meek's life and career began from the most 
humble of backgrounds in segregated Tallahassee during the 1930's. She 
was the granddaughter of slaves and daughter of former sharecroppers, 
yet graduated from Lincoln High School, and later stayed in north 
Florida and graduated from Florida A&M University in 1946. 
Unfortunately, this was still a time when African Americans could not 
attend graduate school in the state of Florida, yet because of her 
fearless spirit and tenacity, Ms. Meek did not give up studying; she 
enrolled in the University of Michigan and received her M.S. degree in 
1948. After graduation, Carrie was hired as a teacher at Bethune-
Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then at her alma 
mater, Florida A&M University. She then moved to Miami in 1961 to serve 
as special assistant to the vice president of Miami-Dade Community 
College, which was desegregated in 1963, largely due to Ms. Meek's 
integral role in the push for its integration.
  I distinctly recall the years we served together in the Florida State 
legislature in the 1980's. And although Ms. Meek became Florida's first 
African American female state Senator in 1983, the same year I began my 
career of public service in the Florida House, we worked jointly on 
numerous projects beneficial to minority communities across the state 
of Florida. And since she served on the Education Appropriations 
Subcommittee, we tag teamed on various projects, including critical 
funding for HBCU's, affordable housing for minorities and the poor, as 
well as funding for critical transportation and infrastructure projects 
in areas previously overlooked.
  And in 1992, after a long and bitter legal fight, Ms. Meek and I, 
along with Congressman Alcee Hastings, became the first African 
American Members elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since 
1871! Together in Washington, Rep. Meek and I worked arduously together 
on issues such as economic development for underserved areas, both 
nationally and in the state of Florida, on decreasing disparities in 
health care treatment and in increasing access to health insurance, as 
well as on education and housing issues. And as Floridians passionate 
about improving the conditions on the island nation of Haiti, we also 
traveled to Haiti together, and worked to advocate for Haitian 
immigrants and for increased U.S. foreign aid and investment on the 
island nation of Haiti. I will always fondly remember the years of 
working together with Ms. Meek, and am pleased to see Members of the 
Florida delegation coming together on the House Floor this morning to 
recognize her many achievements during her time in Congress.

                          ____________________