[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E204-E205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE UNVEILING OF THE ROSA PARKS STATUE IN STATUARY HALL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 27, 2013

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the unveiling of the new 
statue of Rosa Parks in Statuary Hall marks an historic moment. No 
American man or woman has stood taller than Rosa Parks when she refused 
to stand and move to the back of a legally segregated bus in 
Montgomery, Alabama. The first full-sized statue of an African American 
to be approved and funded by Congress since 1873 honors the actions of 
this humble Black woman which triggered the Montgomery bus boycott. The 
boycott ultimately led to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1956 decision 
declaring segregation on municipal buses unconstitutional.
  As Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, it was my honor 
to shepherd the process through Congress and to manage passage of the 
enabling legislation which was written and introduced by introduced by 
former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. It was humbling for me, and my 
colleagues, to make decisions that would help shape and preserve her 
legacy including working with Architect of the Capitol on selecting the 
final design. The artists captured her quiet dignity, and hallmark 
strength. She'll forever appear as steady and unmovable as the rock she 
sits upon.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the work of Congressman Jackson 
who brought the need for this statute and the need to name Emancipation 
Hall to the House's attention. I was moved by the statement that Mr. 
Jackson prepared to deliver today.

 The Unveiling of Rosa Park's Statue in Statuary Hall--Speech Prepared 
       by Jackson Before He Went on Medical Leave, June 10, 2012


                              INTRODUCTION

       Statuary Hall is the old home of the House of 
     Representatives. Clio, the female figure in back, was 
     symbolically taking notes and recording laws as they were 
     made. The woman in front is a symbol of freedom and liberty--
     even though slavery existed in her presence. The body that 
     met here was totally racially segregated and sexist.


                  I. WHY ROSA PARKS IN STATUARY HALL?

       On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks stood up by sitting down on 
     a legally segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She violated 
     a state statute and a city ordinance that was in keeping with 
     the dominant conservative legal framework of Alabama--states' 
     rights, local control, laissez-faire economics and 
     voluntarism.
       Why did I insist that the Rosa Park's statue be placed in 
     Statuary Hall? Because I wanted her presence to represent a 
     more holistic view of American history and I wanted her to be 
     seen in historical context. What do I mean?
       I wanted her to desegregate this room and to keep an eye on 
     the others here who kept her legally segregated (because of 
     her race) in the name of a conservative political philosophy 
     called states' rights, local control, laissez-faire economics 
     and voluntarism with an attitude of (quote) ``our Negroes are 
     happy down here and we'll work it out.'' Persons like 
     Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, President of the Confederacy; 
     Alexander Hamilton Stephens of Georgia, Vice President of the 
     Confederacy; General Joseph Wheeler of Alabama, still in his 
     Confederate uniform; and the Great racial Compromiser, Henry 
     Clay of Kentucky.
       The Rosa Parks statue is appropriately taking the spot 
     formerly occupied by Confederate General Robert E. Lee of 
     Virginia, who was recently reassigned to the Crypt.
       And I don't want to forget Brigham Young of Utah, whose 
     religion barred African Americans until 1978.
       Finally, I wanted Daniel Webster and those who believed in 
     building a more perfect Union--not a more separate and 
     unequal states' rights--to have some company.


            II. WE MUST SEE ROSA PARKS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT

       This is what I mean by ``historical context.'' The House of 
     Representatives met in this room for 50 years--between 1807 
     and 1857.
       Under the Constitution's direction, in this room, the 
     international slave trade ended in 1808--even though it was 
     allowed to continue between the states.
       In this room the Missouri Compromise of 1820 became law, 
     which admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free 
     state--followed by six other states admitted by 1848, three 
     slave and three free in order to protect the peculiar 
     institution through a balance of power in the Senate.
       The House's ``gag rule'' originated in this room in the 
     mid-1830s--which barred discussion or referral to committee 
     of all anti-slavery petitions.
       The great racial debates in the Senate between 1820 and 
     1850 involving John Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, 
     and the resulting racial compromises that kept the Union 
     together--but only delayed the American Civil War--took place 
     only a few steps from here and impacted this body.
       In this room Whig Congressman Abraham Lincoln of Illinois 
     served one term in the 30th Congress (1847-to-1849) and on 
     December 22, 1847 presented his ``Spot Resolutions'' in 
     opposition to the war with Mexico. Of course, in 1861 he 
     became the 16th and first Republican President of the United 
     States, kept the Union together through a bloody war that 
     cost 620,000 American lives, issued the Emancipation 
     Proclamation in 1863, overcame the limitations of the 10th 
     Amendment and steered the 13th Amendment ending slavery 
     though Congress in 1865 and shortly thereafter was 
     assassinated for advocating the ``right to vote'' for 
     Negroes.
       The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed in this room, 
     which allowed the long arm of the federal government to reach 
     out in the North and bring an escaped slave back to slavery 
     in the South--ironically, unlike today, when we don't want 
     the long arm of the federal government to reach out and bring 
     someone health care or education or housing or the right to 
     vote or a clean environment or equal protection under the 
     law.
       Guns and knives were brought into this chamber, fist fights 
     broke out, and ``duels to the death'' over slavery were 
     proposed in this room.
       The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, featuring the organizing 
     principle of Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas--``popular 
     sovereignty'' or ``states'' rights''--was passed in this 
     chamber, triggering the founding of the Republican Party as 
     an anti-slavery party in Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854, followed 
     by ``Bleeding Kansas,'' John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry 
     in 1859, Lincoln's election in November, 1860 and the start 
     of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861.
       And it was on May 22, 1856, that South Carolina's 
     Representative Preston Brooks left this chamber and nearly 
     beat to death with a cane Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner 
     of Massachusetts, accusing him of insulting his uncle, South 
     Carolina Senator Andrew P. Butler, for analogizing his 
     embrace of a prostitute (i.e., slavery) as his mistress.
       Statuary Hall is also where the Massachusetts militia was 
     quartered during the Civil War.


                      III. ROSA PARKS AND THE LAW

       Rosa Park's sit-down and arrest on December 1, 1955 
     triggered the Montgomery bus boycott and brought Dr. Martin 
     Luther King, Jr. to national prominence. On February 1, 1956, 
     two days after segregationists bombed Dr. King's house, Fred 
     Gray and Charles D. Langford--aided by Thurgood Marshall and 
     the NAACP--filed the lawsuit known as (Plaintiff) Browder vs. 
     (Mayor) Gayle).
       It made its way to the Supreme Court challenging Alabama's 
     state statutes and Montgomery's city ordinances requiring 
     segregation on Montgomery's buses. On June 5, 1956 a three-
     judge U.S. District Court ruled 2-to-1 that Alabama's 
     segregated buses were unconstitutional based on the 1954 
     Brown decision.
       An appeal by Alabama and Montgomery was rejected by the 
     Supreme Court on December 17 and on December 20, 1956 the 
     decision officially arrived in Montgomery. Dr. King and the 
     community voted to end the 381-day bus boycott and the next 
     morning

[[Page E205]]

     Dr. King and African Americans in Montgomery--for the first 
     time--rode Montgomery's buses on a desegregated basis.
       It reminds me of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's 
     speech at a bicentennial celebration of the Constitution in 
     1987. ``What is striking'' Justice Marshall said, ``is the 
     role legal principles have played throughout America's 
     history in determining the condition of Negroes. They were 
     enslaved by law, emancipated by law, disenfranchised and 
     segregated by law; and, finally, they have begun to win 
     equality by law. Along the way, new constitutional principles 
     have emerged to meet the challenges of a changing society. 
     The progress has been dramatic, and it will continue.''


                               CONCLUSION

       Rosa Parks was carrying a lot of historic weight on her 
     shoulders emanating from this room. That's why she deserves 
     to be here in Statuary Hall.
       Rosa Parks challenged Alabama and the 10th Amendment 
     (states' rights), Montgomery (local control), laissez-faire 
     economics (a deregulated environment where transactions 
     between private parties were free from government over-site) 
     and volunteerism (just give us a little time, don't interfere 
     and we'll work it out), and she took her case all the way to 
     the Supreme Court--and prevailed--in order to form a more 
     perfect Union!
       Or, to put it another way paraphrasing a past popular song, 
     Rosa Parks fought law (state and local law)--and the law 
     (federal law) won--by affirming everyone's citizenship and 
     providing equal protection under the law for all Americans.
       Rosa Parks--rest in peace.
       Rosa Parks statue--stand here among the mighty with 
     dignity.

                          ____________________