[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 139 (Friday, October 26, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1723-E1724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING HANK AND ROSE SANDERS OF ALABAMA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MELVIN L. WATT

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 26, 2012

  Mr. WATT. Mr. Speaker, as we approach Johnson C. Smith University's 
homecoming and election day, I want to take this opportunity to honor 
Rose and Hank Sanders.
  Rose Sanders is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, a 
historically Black College located in my congressional district. She is 
also a graduate of the Harvard University School of Law. She was 
Alabama's first female African American judge and was also a lead 
attorney in the case of Pigford v. Glickman, a class action lawsuit 
against the United States Department of Agriculture which documented 
racial discrimination in the Department of Agriculture's allocation of 
farm loans and assistance.
  Rose Sanders' husband, Hank Sanders, also graduated from Harvard Law 
School. He serves in the Alabama State Senate where he has represented 
the 23rd State Senate District since 1983. He was Chair of the Senate 
Finance and Taxation Committee and is the longest serving Chair of the 
Legislative Budget Committee.
  Today, however, I want to recognize Hank and Rose Sanders for their 
tireless work to organize the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute 
and the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. The Museum and the Jubilee were 
organized and started to memorialize the events of March 7, 1965 which 
has come to be known as ``Bloody Sunday''. On that date 600 citizens, 
including my hero and our colleague John Lewis, were brutally attacked 
by Alabama state troopers, as they peacefully attempted to cross the 
Edmund Pettus Bridge seeking to provide the

[[Page E1724]]

right to vote to all citizens. This attack showed the world the 
insensitivity and brutality of opponents to voting rights and, 
ultimately, led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
  Through the vision and work of Rose and Hank Sanders and their work 
through the Museum and Jubilee, thousands of Alabama children, 
residents, tourists and others from around our country and the world 
have learned about the courageous acts of those who marched across the 
Edmund Pettus Bridge and others who have fought to advance the struggle 
to gain the civil and voting rights we now enjoy.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me and my colleague John Lewis as 
we commend the efforts of Rose and Hank Sanders and the important work 
they have done to advance justice, equality and the right to vote in 
the United States.

                          ____________________