[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COMMEMORATING RICHMOND HEIGHTS' 65TH ANNIVERSARY

  (Mr. GARCIA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate the 65th 
anniversary of Richmond Heights, a community that from its very 
beginning fostered inclusion and respect.
  I recently had the opportunity to read a great book, ``Miami's 
Richmond Heights,'' which was written by Patricia Harper Garrett and 
her daughter, Jessica Garrett Modkins, good friends of mine. It 
chronicles the story of a community that was set up by Captain Frank 
Martin, a White Pan Am pilot, who bought the land in 1949, knowing that 
a lot of World War II veterans, African American World War II veterans, 
would be returning armed with the GI Bill, but unable to purchase 
homes. He created this community based on racial equality and 
inclusion. It is one of the great communities of my district.
  The African American leadership that it inspired--folks like Canon 
Theodore Gibson, Reverend John A. Ferguson, who created the Second 
Baptist Church, and Senator Larcenia Bullard--that leadership has been 
passed on to others in Richmond Heights where today we have Senator 
Dwight Bullard and Reverend Alphonso Jackson.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I commemorate the 65th 
anniversary of Richmond Heights and Patricia Garrett's terrific book.

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