[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 82 (Tuesday, May 24, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DONELLA BROWN WILSON

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 24, 2016

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Mrs. Donella Brown 
Wilson, a trailblazing educator and community leader. Today is her 
107th birthday.
  Born May 24, 1909, in Fort Motte, South Carolina, Mrs. Wilson grew up 
on the land where her great-grandparents had worked as slaves. As a 
young girl, she realized that she wanted to teach others to read. She 
started by teaching herself, studying the pages of the Sears & Roebuck 
catalog by the light of an oil lamp.
  Mrs. Wilson achieved this goal in 1933 when she earned her teaching 
credentials from Allen University in Columbia. She embarked on a long 
teaching career, mostly in rural parts of the state, retiring in 1971.
  In 1931, she married Reverend John R. Wilson, Sr., who was also an 
educator. They purchased a home in the historic Waverley community of 
Columbia, where they became community institutions. Mrs. Wilson is a 
life member of the NAACP, South Carolina Education Association, Zeta 
Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Union Baptist Church. She is a past 
national superintendent in the United Order of Tents, Inc. In recent 
years, Mrs. Wilson has become the unofficial historian of Waverley, and 
her willingness to recount her life experiences has enriched many of us 
of subsequent generations.
  The changes Mrs. Wilson has seen over the last 107 years have been 
remarkable. She played a big part in bringing them about when she was 
involved in the landmark case Elmore v. Rice in 1947, which 
successfully challenged the legality of the whites-only Democratic 
primary in South Carolina. Treasuring this victory and fully 
understanding the crucial importance of the ballot, she has voted in 
every election since. Six years ago, I honored Mrs. Wilson's request 
that I accompany her as she cast her first vote for me after turning 
100. She said in 2012, ``Those of us that live to see how you graduated 
from and came up the ladder makes us feel that our days, that our 
prayers and our working in the fields and what not, was not in vain.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in wishing Mrs. 
Wilson a very happy 107th birthday. It is a remarkable milestone 
befitting a remarkable woman. I wish her good health and Godspeed.

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