[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 95 (Friday, June 28, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING ELAINE BAKER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2013

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
remarkable Civil Rights leader Dr. Elaine Baker. Dr. Baker is a 
resident of Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
  She is the only child to the late Joseph and Louise Marjorie Baker. 
She was born on June 30, 1949 in the historical independent black 
community of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, which was founded in 1887 by 
former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. Growing up in this community 
she was nurtured by a community of proud, loving and generous elders 
and peers and teachers.
  She was influenced by a socio-cultural environment in Mound Bayou 
that had great expectations and surrounding communities that 
communicated messages of dual citizenship for people who looked like 
her. For example, the separate waiting room in the doctor's office in 
Merigold in stark contrast to the openness of Friendship Clinic in 
Mound Bayou. The ``colored only'' water fountains in Cleveland spoke a 
deafening sound of discrimination. And the ``colored only'' bathrooms 
in Clarksdale, which reinforced that something was not right.
  The violent death of Emmett Till, as memorialized in the Jet magazine 
photo story remains indelibly etched in the forefront of her reality 
that danger could be lurking anywhere for people who looked like her. 
The news stories about bombings and lynchings and murders and arrests 
that Jet, Ebony and other Afro-American news media carried either in 
print or through audio media brought home the chilling messages of 
``less than'' and ``more than'' solely, it seemed, based on skin color. 
These incidents and family discussions let her know that she could not 
sit back and not become an advocate for change.
  The importance of education was always at the forefront of 
discussions in her home. Her grandmother, with an elementary education 
reminded her to get an education. She told her with an education it 
will matter how you look or what you have or don't have, you'll know.'' 
Her mother, a 1944 graduate of Bolivar County Training School, was an 
avid reader and teacher. Both of these women set the reading example 
for her--whether it was the Bible, various news media, or other options 
including the catalogs. From Mound Bayou to Tougaloo College the 
meaning of civil rights took on very significant meanings. Those 
meanings led her to Brown University where she was a semester exchange 
student from Tougaloo to Atlanta University now known as the Whitney M. 
Young School of Social Work to the University of Georgia. There she was 
exposed to socio-economic and racial divides that urged her into action 
and she became part of change.
  Her love of people and a desire to understand human behavior in the 
social environment underpinned her selected academic majors: Sociology 
at Tougaloo College where she was a B.A., Cum Laude graduate, earned a 
Master of Social Work and Public Administration Ph.D., with emphasis in 
Organization Development, Health Resources Administration and General 
Public Administration. Her involvement in community-based organizations 
was transformative in focus and diverse in the individuals engaged.
  She knows life is the gift that keeps on giving and memories of civil 
engagement include Fannie Lou Hamer, Unita Blackwell, Marian Wright 
Edelman, and many others. She believes that what she has been gifted 
which is not hers to keep. She is truly an advocate for change.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Ms. Elaine 
Baker for her dedication to civil rights.

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