[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 26 (Monday, February 11, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E157-E158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HONORING THE WORK OF MRS. MILLIE RUTH McCLELLAND CHARLES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CEDRIC L. RICHMOND

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 11, 2019

  Mr. RICHMOND. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the work of Mrs. Millie 
Ruth McClelland Charles, a legendary social worker and native of New 
Orleans, Louisiana.
  Mrs. Charles was born July 25, 1923 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Rev. 
Williams McClelland, a Baptist preacher, and Frankie Little, a school 
teacher.
  Mrs. Charles entered Dillard University when she was only 15 years 
old and graduated with a degree in secondary education. However, after 
a few years of teaching in north Louisiana and loving the children in 
her classes, she realized she could find more fulfillment in social 
work because she would be able to help children and their families find 
ways to solve problems. Therefore, she earned a master's degree in the 
subject at the University of Southern California in the mid-1950s.
  Millie McClelland Charles has greatly impacted the field of health 
and mental health through her leadership in the founding and guiding of 
the Southern University of New Orleans School of Social Work (BSW and 
MSW programs) into fully accredited programs providing opportunity for 
professional development to countless students. She is currently Dean 
Emeritus and founder of the School of Social Work. The founding of 
Southern University in New Orleans was a highly political event when it 
took place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, reportedly to 
discourage black students from attending the predominately white 
University of New Orleans, located less than a mile away.
  Millie Charles' ability in ultimately taking the handful of social 
work courses taught at the University of New Orleans, which were 
transferred to Southern University of New Orleans, and subsequently 
expanding on them and developing them into fully accredited BSW and MSW 
programs is considered somewhat of a miracle in New Orleans. The high 
caliber Programs have attracted a well-credentialed, culturally diverse 
faculty; the student population is now well integrated also.
  Dean Charles' interests in social work education go far beyond just 
working in the state of Louisiana. She has served as the Co-Chair, 
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Annual Meeting; a Member of the 
CSWE Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum Standards; and a Site 
Visitor for the CSWE Accreditation Commission. In addition, since 1972, 
she has consulted with numerous Undergraduate and Graduate Social Work 
Programs around the U.S., advising them on Curricula.
  Millie Charles has received numerous awards. Some of them are: 
National Social

[[Page E158]]

Worker of the Year (NASW), 1975; Humanitarian of the Year, Federal 
Women Employees Association, 1975; Founders Award, New Orleans Chapter, 
National Association of Black Social Workers, 1979; Doctor of Humane 
Letters, Dillard University, 1993; and she also was one of four women 
honored by the New Orleans YWCA for lifetime of service to the 
community. Millie Charles was hailed as a lifelong crusader for 
equality during a ceremony in which she was presented The Times-
Picayune Loving Cup on Tuesday June 24, 2013. Throughout her life, 
Charles, a native of New Orleans' Central City, has said consistently 
that anything she might have accomplished was the result of a group 
effort.
  Madam Speaker, I honor the work of Mrs. Millie Ruth McClelland 
Charles.

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