[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 49 (Thursday, March 27, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E458-E459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE PASSING OF MRS. MARIELLA UKINA AMA HOLMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOHN LEWIS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 27, 2014

  Mr. LEWIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a wonderful and 
beautiful spirit; Mrs. Mariella Ukina Ama Holman was a friend, mother, 
wife, teacher, activist, and trailblazer.
  A woman of the world, Mariella Ukina Ama was born in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania on July 4, 1922 to Kiushu Amakaya and Ada Adams. Her 
father, an immigrant from Japan, changed his name to Frank Ama and 
worked as a cook and caterer, and her mother was a laundress. Mariella 
and her brothers--Charles, Lloyd, and Bobby--were expected to meet 
their parents' high standards and were determined to overcome all odds.
  As a child of the Great Depression, she worked hard, stood strong, 
and held her head high as one of the few children of color at the 
historic Philadelphia High School for Girls. Mariella continued her 
education in Atlanta, where she graduated from Atlanta University 
Laboratory High School. She completed her formal education at the 
renowned Spelman College, where she truly found her voice. At Spelman, 
Mariella bloomed into a woman of culture and class--studying and 
excelling in French and the humanities--gradually becoming more 
socially and politically conscious and active.

[[Page E459]]

  While working at Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, she met 
her husband-to-be, M. Carl Holman. In 1945, Mariella and Carl married 
and returned to Atlanta to begin a family; they were proud to raise 
their children--Kerry, Karen, and Kent--in the heart of the Civil 
Rights Movement. Her husband, a professor at Clark College in Atlanta, 
helped co-found the Atlanta Committee for Cooperative Action (ACCA) and 
became the editor-in-chief of The Atlanta Inquirer, which developed 
into a leading, weekly journal and voice for equality and justice in 
our nation. In the 1960s when Carl joined the staff of the United 
States Commission on Civil Rights, the family moved to Washington, 
D.C., where he eventually served as the president of the National Urban 
Coalition.
  Throughout their marriage, Mrs. Holman was the backbone of their 
beautiful family and home, while maintaining her own career as a 
skilled educator and an activist in her own right. She taught French at 
Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, and continued to teach in 
Washington, D.C. at Hart Junior High School until her retirement in the 
1980s. In her classroom, she opened the minds of countless young people 
to a global language and community beyond the United States; she 
brought Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean to their front door through 
her creative and passionate instruction.
  For years, Mrs. Holman also provided wise counsel to the architects--
the movers-and-shakers--of the Civil Rights Movement. She opened her 
home to organizers for strategy meetings, and her hospitality, cooking, 
and warmth fed stomachs and reignited spirits. When her beloved husband 
passed away in 1988, Mariella continued to be the grounding, central 
force of her family, friends, and community for 26 years. Last week, on 
March 17, 2014, Mrs. Mariella Holman passed away surrounded by loving 
family and friends. Although I know that she lived a long and full 
life, I was still heartbroken to hear the news.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to her 
children--Kwasi (Kerry) G. Holman, Kinshasha (Karen) Holman Conwill, 
and Kwame (Kent) Holman; grandchildren--Monifa, Kevin, Donovan, and 
Camille; seven great-grandchildren; great-greatgrandchild; brother, 
Lloyd, and his wife, Muriel, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and 
countless loving family members and friends. They were guided and 
grounded by this beautiful and strong matriarch, and today each and 
every one of them is in my thoughts and prayers.
  Mella--as she was called by all who knew and loved her--will be truly 
missed. She touched so many with her warmth, her spirit, her cooking, 
and her timeless class, and I am proud to have known and loved this 
great and wonderful lady.

                          ____________________