[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 127 (Monday, September 8, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H7255-H7256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CYNTHIA JENKINS POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (H.R. 3957) to designate the facility of the United 
States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in 
Springfield Gardens, New York, as the ``Cynthia Jenkins Post Office 
Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3957

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. CYNTHIA JENKINS POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield 
     Gardens, New York, shall be known and designated as the 
     ``Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Collins) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Danny K. 
Davis) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and to include extraneous materials on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3957, which was introduced by 
Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, to designate the facility of 
the United States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in 
Springfield Gardens, New York, as the Cynthia Jenkins Post Office 
Building.
  Essie Cynthia Jenkins served the communities of Jamaica, St. Albans, 
Springfield Gardens, and Rosedale, New York, for 12 years as a New York 
assemblywoman. She made history by being the first African American 
woman elected to represent southeast Queens. Ms. Jenkins served as 
chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Affirmative Action and a delegate to 
both the Governor's and White House Conferences on Libraries. She was 
also instrumental in the State's decision to make a 250-bed Veterans' 
Home to St. Albans in the 1980s.
  Prior to her career in public service, Ms. Jenkins was a librarian 
for 23 years, working in every southeast Queens branch library. In 
1966, she earned a Master of Library Science degree from Pratt 
Institute. It was around this time when she met her husband, Joseph 
Jenkins. The two had a son, Joseph Jenkins, Jr., who credits his 
mother's strong spiritual beliefs and active membership in the 
Springfield Gardens United Methodist Church with his decision to become 
an ordained minister at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church 
in Bay Shore, Long Island.
  Ms. Jenkins, sadly, passed away on October 31, 2001, at the age of 
77; however, her passion for learning lives on. Her undergraduate alma 
mater, the University of Louisville, named a scholarship in her honor, 
known as the Essie Jenkins Torchbearer Endowment, established in 1999. 
Since then, many young people have had the opportunity to go to 
college, thanks in part to the dedication and trailblazing efforts of 
this remarkable woman.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 3957, and 
with that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he 
may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), the author of 
this legislation.
  Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to sponsor H.R. 3957. I urge its 
quick and unanimous passage and ask all Members to join me in honoring 
one of southeast Queens' best and a memorable public servant, Cynthia 
Jenkins.
  Let me, at this time, also thank my colleagues from the New York 
delegation who all signed onto this bill, because Cynthia was a history 
maker. She was the first African American woman in Queens County to be 
elected to the New York State Assembly. She was elected because of the 
work that she did prior.
  For 22 years, she worked as a librarian and made sure that every 
single library in southeastern Queens would remain open. She, in fact, 
worked in every library in southeastern Queens. She fought hard on 
behalf of libraries and those who enjoyed their services, even 
preventing many branches from closing in a time of cutbacks. She wanted 
to make sure the children had a safe place to go to learn after school. 
She also had various programs within the public libraries.
  As indicated, when servicemembers returned from Vietnam, it was 
Cynthia Jenkins who played an integral role in opening the State 
Veterans' Home in St. Albans at the veterans' facility. That facility 
still exists and continues to serve thousands of veterans to this very 
day.
  In addition, her advocacy on behalf of civil rights was inspiring for 
many at a time when civil inequality was rampant. She was instrumental 
in trying to make sure that there was a district where an African 
American could run for Congress one day--the seat that I hold today.
  She also was the founder of Social Concern, which took care of young 
people, older people, and seniors who were frail and had to stay in 
their homes and helped make sure they got the food and quality health 
care that they needed.
  Indeed, Cynthia Jenkins, a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, 
a member of the community, was a long, hard fighter who did not know 
how to take ``no'' for an answer when she was trying to make sure that 
the community received its due.
  Today, I ask all of my colleagues to honor this public servant who 
was dedicated to her community, dedicated to libraries, dedicated to 
literacy, dedicated to the commitment of social and racial equality, 
and that we unanimously pass this bill memorializing the late Cynthia 
Jenkins, our assemblywoman.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, we have no other speakers and 
are ready to close. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H.R. 3957, 
a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, New York, 
as the Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building.
  Cynthia Jenkins worked as a librarian, community activist, and civil 
rights advocate after moving to Queens from Louisville, Kentucky. In 
1969, while working for the Queens public library system, Cynthia 
cofounded the Black Librarians Caucus, to address racial inequalities 
in the public library system, as well as an educational action program, 
the Social Concerns Committee of Springfield Gardens, Inc.

[[Page H7256]]

  In 1982, Cynthia became the first African American woman elected to 
public office in southern Queens, winning a seat in the New York State 
Assembly. For the next 12 years, she worked tirelessly on behalf of her 
constituents, focusing particularly on educational issues.
  Cynthia passed away on October 31, 2001, at the age of 77. She 
continues to be remembered for her dedicated public service and for 
always fighting for the principles she believed in.
  Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill to honor the life and public 
service of State Assemblywoman Cynthia Jenkins.
  I thank Representative Meeks for introducing this bill.
  I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it was stated in my remarks 
previously that Ms. Jenkins, sadly, passed away October 31, 2001. I 
think from her faith background and for her children, it was a sad day, 
but it was also a happy day, because every time we remember those such 
as we are remembering today, there was a birth and there was a death--
and we are remembering the death--but in between there is a dash or a 
space. Those lives that we memorialize today on the House floor are in 
that dash or space. So, for me, the dates mean a birth and a death, but 
it is the nondate in the middle that makes what we are doing here today 
so special in the lives of these individuals.
  With that, I would urge all to support H.R. 3957, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Womack). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3957.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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