[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 164 (Thursday, October 12, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE HARRIET TUBMAN PRESS IMPRINT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 12, 2017

  Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and 
congratulate the Harriet Tubman Press on the occasion of its first 
publication.
  The Harriet Tubman Press, an imprint of Tsehai Publishers, is an 
important new publishing platform based in Los Angeles, California. It 
is named after one of the great icons of American history, and it is 
one of the only imprints in the country dedicated to providing a 
platform for the voices of today's African-American scholars and 
writers.
  The Harriet Tubman Press is housed in the Marymount Institute for 
Faith, Culture, and the Arts at Loyola Marymount University, which is 
one of the centers of higher learning in my congressional district--the 
43rd District in California.
  The first publication of the Harriet Tubman Press will be Voices from 
Leimert Park Redux, a diverse collection of poetry that beautifully 
captures the heartbeat of the Leimert Park community. For decades, this 
Los Angeles neighborhood has been a thriving beacon of African-American 
activism, culture, and the arts. At a time when gentrification and 
displacement threaten neighborhoods across Southern California, the 
preservation of African-American cultural heritage in Leimert Park 
could not be more important.
  I congratulate Loyola Marymount University, Tsehai Publishing, the 
Harriet Tubman Press, and all the members of the South Central Los 
Angeles community that worked so hard to make this first publication 
possible. Your dedication and fortitude is necessary to the 
preservation of the African-American voice. I'd like to further thank 
the artists, authors, and poets who stand up and propel that voice into 
our country's consciousness. Your voices are the only currency that can 
never be taken from you.
  May the first publication of the Harriet Tubman Press signal the 
birth of a new force devoted to propelling, celebrating, and 
highlighting African-American culture through literature.

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