[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 184 (Friday, December 2, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING MS. ETHEL LEE HOWARD FOR HER COMMITMENT COUNTERING CIVIL 
                               INJUSTICES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, December 2, 2011

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
longtime resident and devoted civil servant of Port Gibson, 
Mississippi, Ms. Ethel Lee Howard.
  Ms. Howard has been an advocate of civil rights for more than 50 
years. She joined the fight for civil rights in the early 1960s when 
the movement first came to Claiborne County, Mississippi. She began her 
efforts by frequenting meetings held at St. Peter's African Methodist 
Episcopal Church hosted by the National Association for the Advancement 
of Colored People--an organization she soon after became a member.
  During the civil rights era, Ms. Howard fought vigorously for equal 
rights; she was among the first to send her daughter, Jessie, to a 
predominantly white school in Mississippi during the 1960s and when 
First Baptist Church of Port Gibson was fired upon with gunshots by 
police and other law enforcement officials, Ms. Howard's voice reigned 
high among all those who stood firmly to echo the sounds against 
injustice.
  To this day, Ms. Howard still serves as a faithful member of the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and actively 
attends many of its community functions and meetings. In 2007, she was 
honored as Mother of the Year for the NAACP during a ceremony at the 
First Baptist Church in Port Gibson, Mississippi.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in celebrating 
Ms. Ethel Lee Howard for her unwavering commitment to civil justice and 
equality.

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