[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2822-H2823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 R. JESS BROWN UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 455) to designate the United States courthouse located at 
501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown 
United States Courthouse''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 455

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The United States courthouse located at 501 East Court 
     Street in Jackson, Mississippi, shall be known and designated 
     as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the United States 
     courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a 
     reference to the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Ferguson) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Ferguson).


                             General Leave

  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials on H.R. 455.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 455 would designate the United States courthouse located at 501 
East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown United 
States Courthouse.
  Mr. Brown, a native of Oklahoma, attended Illinois State University, 
Indiana University, and the Texas Southern University law school.
  In the 1960s, R. Jess Brown was one of only four African-American 
lawyers licensed to practice in Mississippi. In 1962, Mr. Brown took on 
his most famous case, where he worked on behalf of James Meredith, an 
African-American student who sought enrollment at the University of 
Mississippi. Mr. Brown's successful lawsuit broke the color barrier at 
the University of Mississippi and helped set the tone for future 
litigation in the civil rights movement.
  Although the Meredith case may be his most famous trial, Mr. Brown 
already had established a history of litigating for civil rights 
stretching back to 1948, when he sued on behalf of Black teachers in 
Jackson, Mississippi, who sought salaries on par with their White 
colleagues.
  R. Jess Brown helped to break down barriers and set historical 
precedent that has shaped our Nation for the better. It is only 
appropriate that we honor the work of Mr. Brown by naming this 
courthouse after him.

[[Page H2823]]

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 455. I 
want to commend my friend on the other side of the aisle for his 
eloquence and for his support of H.R. 455.
  I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Mississippi 
(Mr. Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Georgia for yielding me the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 455, a bill to designate the 
United States courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown 
United States Courthouse.
  Mr. Speaker, Richard Jess Brown was born on September 12, 1912, in 
Coffeyville, Kansas. His parents, Ernestine and Joe Brown, were jazz 
musicians and performed in and managed a local theater.
  Jess received a bachelor of science in industrial arts from Illinois 
State Normal University and a master of science in industrial education 
from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
  After teaching at Alcorn State University, Jess moved to Jackson, 
Mississippi, where he taught industrial arts at Lanier High School, the 
only Black high school in the city at that time. While teaching at 
Lanier, Jess became an intervening plaintiff in a lawsuit that sought 
equal pay for Black teachers in Jackson.
  After teaching in Jackson, Jess attended Texas Southern University 
Law School. Jess left the law school before receiving his juris 
doctorate, but was able to return to Mississippi and pass the 
Mississippi bar in 1953.
  Beginning his law career in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Jess confined his 
practice to cases involving divorces, deeds, land titles, and other 
practices that did not agitate White members of the bar. However, after 
the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling in 1954, Jess felt 
compelled to defend the civil rights of African Americans.
  In the fall of 1955, the conditions and hardships endured by Black 
lawyers in the courts led Mr. Brown and seven other Black attorneys to 
establish the Magnolia Bar Association.
  Mr. Speaker, R. Jess Brown is credited with filing the first civil 
suit on behalf of an African American in Mississippi, that lawsuit on 
behalf of a Jefferson County minister who challenged laws that 
prevented Blacks from voting.
  Mr. Speaker, Jess Brown has an extensive record as a civil rights 
lawyer. His list of clients include:
  Clyde Kennard, who was charged with and convicted of a fictitious 
crime while attempting to desegregate the University of Southern 
Mississippi;
  James H. Meredith, whose litigation ultimately led to the integration 
of the University of Mississippi;
  Dr. Gilbert Mason, who led the effort to end racial segregation on 
the beaches of Biloxi, Mississippi; and
  Civil rights icons Medgar Wiley Evers and Dr. Aaron Henry.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Brown was admitted to practice law before all 
Mississippi court systems; the United States District Court for the 
Northern District of Mississippi; the United States District Court for 
the Southern District of Mississippi; the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; and the United States Supreme Court. Mr. 
Brown also served on the Executive Board of the National Bar 
Association for approximately 15 years.
  Mr. Speaker, on December 31, 1989, R. Jess Brown died in Jackson, 
Mississippi, at the age of 77.
  Mr. Speaker, R. Jess Brown is well-deserving of this honor, and I 
urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 455.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, R. Jess Brown is the type of individual who is an 
American success story. Just listening to the comments of my colleague, 
Congressman Thompson, about R. Jess Brown made me very proud of his 
accomplishments. He seemed to have been a Renaissance man with a 
southern twist. He seemed to be a gentleman and a scholar, yet someone 
who worked with his hands, also, and showed others how to do so.

  That is why I rise in support of H.R. 455, a bill to designate the 
Federal courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown United 
States Courthouse. I can't think of any better name for a courthouse in 
that locale other than the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse. 
Attorney R. Jess Brown was a towering champion during critical moments 
in the civil rights movement in the South, and especially in 
Mississippi.
  Jess Brown received his law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School 
of Law at Texas Southern University, which is my law school alma mater, 
and he practiced law in Mississippi throughout the sixties and 
seventies as one of the few attorneys willing to practice civil rights 
law. He made the metamorphosis from being a divorce lawyer into being a 
civil rights lawyer.
  He was associate counsel for the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 
Fund, and he filed the first civil rights suit in Mississippi in the 
1950s in Jefferson Davis County, seeking the enforcement of the right 
of Black citizens to become registered voters.
  In 1961, R. Jess Brown represented James H. Meredith in his suit to 
be allowed to enter the University of Mississippi. His victory in this 
case opened the doors of that university to all Mississippi citizens.
  While with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, he played a 
major role in fighting racial discrimination in the areas of 
transportation and other public accommodations.
  During his lifetime, R. Jess Brown received numerous awards and 
honors, including the NAACP's Lawyer of the Year Award, the National 
Bar Association's C. Francis Stradford Award, and the Mississippi 
Teachers Association Award for extraordinary service to education in 
Mississippi. Other accomplishments are too numerous to mention but, 
unfortunately, are not as well known as they should be, and this is the 
least that we can do to honor the legacy of this important American.
  I support this legislation honoring the life's work of R. Jess Brown, 
and I urge my colleagues to join me and pass H.R. 455.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Ferguson) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 455.
  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.

                          ____________________