[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 27, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H2266-H2269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
   ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE AND RECOGNIZING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Wild). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the majority leader and 
all of those persons in leadership who make it possible for us to have 
these opportunities.
  I am especially proud to be here tonight because we have two 
resolutions that will be presented. These two resolutions have been 
presented before. One is H. Res. 154. This resolution is one that 
honors and praises the NAACP, the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People. The second is H. Res. 155. It is a Black 
history resolution.
  It is interesting to note that the NAACP was founded during Black 
History Month. The NAACP was founded February 12, 1909. The NAACP has a 
proud history, and I will say more about it in just a moment.
  Next, I would like to talk for a brief moment about the resolution 
that we have for Black History Month.
  Black History Month didn't start out as Black History Month. The 
Honorable Carter G. Woodson initiated what was called Negro History 
Week. Negro History Week was a time for us to acknowledge the 
accomplishments of African Americans, at that time called Negroes. We 
have metamorphosed through many titles, many names, from Negroes to 
African Americans.
  Black History Month was something that Mr. Woodson found to come into 
being in 1976. This was done by President Joe Ford. As it has been 
designated as Black History Month, we have celebrated it as such across 
the length and breadth of this Nation.
  Carter G. Woodson was a person with great vision. He obviously knew 
that in 1926, when this was initially brought to the attention of the 
public, there was not a good likelihood that you would be able to have 
a Black History Month. But he knew that, if you can start someplace, 
you might finish in a greater place. So he started in 1926 with Black 
History Week, and it has metamorphosed into a month.
  You and I know that every day is a day that we should celebrate all 
history, and Black history is no exception. I am not a person who 
believes that we should have Black History Month forever. I think that 
Black history, properly incorporated and celebrated within American 
history and world history, would be more than enough. But today, we are 
honored to celebrate Black History Month and the NAACP as an 
organization that was founded during Black History Month.
  I would like to say just a few words about this NAACP resolution in 
terms of the first time we brought it to the floor of the Congress of 
the United States of America.
  When we brought it to the floor the very first time, the cosponsor of 
the resolution was Mr. Henry Hyde, and the person who controlled the 
time was Mr. Jim Sensenbrenner. Mr. Sensenbrenner, at that time, was 
the chairperson of the Judiciary Committee. I recall Mr. Sensenbrenner 
standing

[[Page H2267]]

over to my right and making his commentary about the NAACP. He spoke 
with a degree of fervor that I thought was needed at the time.
  Mr. Sensenbrenner, while he brought it to the floor and did direct 
the traffic, I would note that it was not an easy resolution to get 
past the House of Representatives. It did pass with consent of the 
House. It was agreed to, if you will.
  Mr. Sensenbrenner and Mr. Hyde had a difficult time getting it 
through the House. I am proud that they did, and I am pleased that none 
of the Members at that time voiced objections to the resolution being 
agreed to. Mr. Sensenbrenner I will always remember as a person who was 
a champion for this resolution, and Mr. Hyde was the cosponsor of the 
NAACP resolution.

  The NAACP is celebrating its 110th anniversary. This is probably the 
Nation's oldest and best known civil rights organization, founded on 
February 12 of 1909, the date of the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's 
birth, the centennial of his birth.
  It is interesting to note that Black History Month was considered 
because of Abraham Lincoln's birth as well, so the two resolutions have 
this in common, Black History Month and the NAACP's being celebrated 
and recognized today.
  It was founded by a diverse group of persons who were outstanding 
citizens. I would also add that it was not founded by a group of 
persons all of whom were African American. I will call off the names 
for you to give you some indication.
  Ida Wells-Barnett, the well-known W.E.B. Du Bois, Henry Moscowitz, 
Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English 
Walling--all persons who were founders of the NAACP.
  The NAACP, for the early part of its history, had a minority of 
minorities, meaning African Americans were not the dominant force 
within its leadership. They had persons who were carrying the torch of 
freedom such that African Americans could be a part of it. But it is 
interesting to note that, early on, the leadership was predominantly 
Anglo persons.
  The NAACP, as indicated, is the oldest, largest, and most widely 
recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization in the United 
States. The active membership is in all 50 States, including State 
conferences of branches and local branches, as well as branches in 
prisons and chapters on college campuses and high schools throughout 
the Nation.
  The NAACP has its national headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.
  The NAACP is here to ensure the political, educational, social, and 
economic rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and 
racial discrimination.
  The NAACP is committed to achieving its goals through nonviolence, 
including negotiation, litigation, and protestation.
  The NAACP is well known for its litigation. The Honorable Thurgood 
Marshall, an African American to become Supreme Court Justice, was the 
chief litigator for the NAACP. Under his leadership, with the 
assistance of a good many other people, the NAACP was able to win many 
lawsuits before the Supreme Court. The lawsuit Brown v. Board of 
Education is one of the most notable lawsuits that the NAACP 
championed.
  The NAACP has used political pressure, marches, demonstrations, and 
effective lobbying to secure the voice for those who are considered 
voiceless in the United States of America.
  The NAACP has been fighting segregation in public schools under the 
leadership of Thurgood Marshall, as I indicated earlier, and its 
greatest victories, of course, include, as I indicated, Brown v. Board 
of Education.
  The NAACP, in 2005, launched the Disaster Relief Fund to help 
hurricane survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and 
Alabama to rebuild their lives.
  So the organization has metamorphosed into one that does more than 
champion the causes of civil rights as they relate to persons being 
discriminated against. It also champions the causes of those who are 
among the least, the last, and the lost in our society: persons who 
have been locked out, persons who have been left behind, persons who 
but for the NAACP might not have a voice.
  I was very honored to be a part of the NAACP's disaster relief help. 
I am also honored to have been a branch president of the NAACP in 
Houston, Texas.
  The NAACP was instrumental in the enactment of the Matthew Shepard 
and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which generally and 
greatly expanded the legal definition of a hate crime. This was an 
important piece of legislation. I was honored to be here at the time we 
took up the legislation.
  Hate crimes are still crimes that we have to not only acknowledge 
exist, but the law ought to have consequences for persons who commit 
these dastardly deeds.
  Throughout its existence, the NAACP has led the charge to defend the 
constitutional right to vote. That is an important piece of commentary, 
the right to vote. The NAACP is still a part of the effort to assure 
every person the right to vote in this country.
  The NAACP has taken on the challenge of dealing with the photo IDs 
that are required in an insidious way. It has also taken on the 
challenge of making sure that persons are properly registered so that 
they can vote, and also making sure that those who would thwart the 
efforts to register persons to vote are not successful in doing so.
  The NAACP has led the effort to strengthen the Voting Rights Act and 
to protect the principle of one person, one vote. The NAACP led the 
charge in raising awareness about and challenging voter suppression 
laws in Federal courts across the Nation.
  The NAACP board of directors unanimously elected Derrick Johnson as 
its President and CEO, who is doing an outstanding job. I am proud to 
be associated with him and the endeavors.
  I am a proud member of the NAACP. I have been such for a good deal of 
my life. I am honored to have a life membership, to have a golden 
heritage membership, and to have a diamond membership.
  I believe those of us who have benefited from the NAACP ought to be 
members of the organization that has made it possible for us to have 
many of the opportunities that we have. I always acknowledge my 
membership in the organization, and I encourage others to do so who 
happen to be members as well: the NAACP, a proud organization that we 
celebrate during this Black History Month.
  The Black history resolution covers more than the NAACP. It talks 
about Black migrations. It emphasizes the movement of people of African 
descent to new destinations and new social realities. This focuses on, 
primarily, the migration of African Americans in this country. It 
focuses specifically on the 20th century through today.
  It deals with patterns of movement, including the relocation of 
persons of African ancestry from Southern farms to Southern cities; 
from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West; and from the 
Caribbean to the United States. Black people have been in motion in the 
20th century and up to this date, and this resolution acknowledges 
this.

                              {time}  1630

  It also talks about the interactions with law enforcement that often 
result in some ugly circumstances, imprisonment and convict leasing.
  Convict leasing is something that we should give a little bit more 
emphasis to.
  In the State of Texas, we recently discovered a grave site containing 
95 bodies. These 95 bodies were of persons who were victims of the 
State's law that allowed convict leasing.
  Many times persons were charged with minor offenses and while they 
were incarcerated, they could be leased to private parties for the 
purpose of having them work as convicts. And many times--too often, I 
might add--the persons who were leased out, were not treated properly. 
In fact, they were treated poorly.
  Many times they were not given proper food, proper clothing, and 
proper shelter; and as a result, many of them died at an early age. In 
this grave of 95 persons, there are persons who were thought to have 
been teenagers at the time of that death.
  We are not absolutely sure they were all African Americans, but the 
suspicion is that a good many of them were. Some of them were likely to 
have been Anglos as well.
  After finding their bodies in Sugar Land, Texas, on the site of a 
school,

[[Page H2268]]

school property, the bodies were exhumed, and they were to be relocated 
to another place. And in so doing, a good many of the citizens, the 
activist community, decided that this was an inappropriate thing to 
do--the bodies being exhumed and reinterred at another location.
  There was a serious meeting before the school board. And the school 
board and the county commissioners, the commissioners court decided 
that it would be appropriate to further study the possibility of 
inhuming these bodies in the place where they were exhumed.
  And my hope is we would follow through on this and give them not only 
a burial site with a proper plaque to memorialize their being in this 
place, but also to do a little bit more and have some sort of structure 
or facility that would allow persons to acquire intelligence about what 
actually happened to these people, how they lived, and how they died, 
and why.
  This country has come a long way, but, of course, we still have much 
more to do. But we want to make sure that we do not overlook the 
history associated with persons who were leased as convicts to private 
persons for the purpose of performing work for them.
  This migration that I spoke of earlier, known as the Great Migration, 
was caused by a lack of economic opportunities because of harsh 
segregation laws in the south and because of the terror that was 
perpetrated against African American communities by the KKK.
  The KKK, obviously, was active in the south; and the KKK, obviously, 
was in the business of terrorizing African American persons. And it is 
interesting to note that while this House has condemned a good many 
persons for their activities, I have not been able to find a record 
showing that the KKK has been condemned for its activities by way of a 
resolution that actually focuses on a person who has been associated 
with that organization.
  The KKK has a horrible history in this country, and it is my hope 
that we in the House of Representatives will take up a resolution 
condemning this entity for what it has done.
  I plan to bring such a resolution to the attention of the House.
  This resolution on black history indicates that prior to 1910; more 
than 90 percent of African Americans lived in the south. And by the 
1970s, 47 percent of all African Americans were living in the north and 
in the west.
  This is why it is called the Great Migration. When you have this much 
of a population moving for opportunities, moving for reasons associated 
with concern for their well-being, that is a significant migration.
  And during World War I, when slowing immigration from Europe created 
a labor shortage in the north, companies began recruiting African 
Americans to fill the assembly lines, to work in steel mills and 
railroads and factories. It was not unusual to hear persons talk about 
``going up north,'' going up north so that they could have 
opportunities in the north that they were unable to acquire in the 
south.
  African Americans who migrated to the north still faced racial 
discrimination in the form of redlining, in the form of racially based 
housing ordinances, in the form of higher rent based on race, and for 
the resurgence of the KKK, and the rising instances of race riots.
  African Americans were not always welcomed with open arms when they 
sought to migrate to these new destinations.
  African Americans created their own cities and neighborhoods, free of 
discrimination, where their culture expanded.
  For example, in Harlem, New York City, that housed over 200,000 
African Americans, there was a culture that was created there in 
Harlem. And we are proud to say that that culture still exists. Harlem 
has been a very important part of African American history.
  Efforts were made to provide educational opportunities for African 
Americans, including the founding of what is now North Carolina Central 
University.
  Greenwood, Oklahoma, is another part of the history that we ought to 
acknowledge. It was a part of Tulsa, and became the home of a thriving 
black business--a section also known as Black Wall Street--until the 
Tulsa riot of 1921, in which a white mob literally burned down 
Greenwood.
  U.S. history has some parts of it that we are not proud of, but we do 
have to acknowledge.
  In Houston, Texas, there is an area known as Freedmen's Town. And 
freed slaves were given the opportunity to purchase land and build 
their homes along the bayou, known as Buffalo Bayou in Houston, Texas. 
And this was at the end of the Civil War.
  And over six decades, the town thrived with churches and schools and 
stores and theaters and jazz spots--clubs, if you will. This was a 
thriving area dominated by African Americans.

  I would also like to mention another personality;
  Judge Frank M. Johnson, who was said to be one of the most courageous 
judges ever to occupy a Federal bench; he was a part of the effort to 
integrate the south. There are many people who have praised him, 
including Dr. Martin Luther King.
  He is the person who issued the order to require the constabulary to 
allow the marches to proceed across the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they 
marched from Selma to Montgomery.
  He is the person who filed the order--along with the other judges--to 
integrate the bus line, that was called the Montgomery bus boycott. He 
opened the doors to persons of all hues, especially those of African 
ancestry who had been locked out.
  Frank M. Johnson will ever be remembered as a champion of human 
rights. In fact, he will also be remembered as a person who did it 
under adverse circumstances, because he had to have, for many years, 
24-hour security. His mother's home was torched at one time.
  It was not easy to be on the side of African Americans in the early 
part of history.
  Frank M. Johnson took such a stand.
  We would also recognize Senator Edward Brooke, III, who became the 
first African American popularly elected to the United States Senate.
  He was from Massachusetts, and he served there for many years. He was 
the first attorney general of African ancestry in any state.
  In 1962, he cowrote the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibited 
discrimination in housing. He was the first Republican to call for 
President Nixon's resignation in light of the Watergate scandal.
  The history of African Americans in the north is one that is rich; 
the history in the south is one that is rich; but they all started, to 
a greater extent, with a migration that proceeded from the south to 
many destinations in the north, as well as in the west.
  So today, we have a resolution that encourages the continued spread 
of knowledge regarding black history, and that it not be limited to one 
month, but that we do this throughout the entire year.
  I am so honored that my colleagues have signed on to this resolution. 
We have had more than 60 colleagues to sign on to one, and I would hope 
that as we continue to present these resolutions, we will have more 
persons who will find favor with them.
  In closing, simply this: The success that we have had as African 
Americans--if we look closely at our history--we will find that it was 
not something that was acquired by our own efforts alone.
  Of course, we have done our part to extricate ourselves from some 
circumstances that were indeed unpleasant and very harmful and hurtful, 
but there were other persons who were there to be of assistance and 
help.
  Many of the stations at the Underground Railroad had persons who were 
not of African ancestry that were there for us as we were traversing 
our way to freedom.
  In many of the battles that were fought in the courtrooms, there were 
persons who were funding the litigation that were not of African 
ancestry.
  The Spingarn brothers are such persons. The NAACP awards its highest 
medal annually in the name of the Spingarns.
  When we have had few people to stand with us, the Jewish community 
has been there. When we have had few people to stand with us, the LGBTQ 
community has been there. When we have had few to stand with us, we 
have had persons of all stripes; Muslims have been there; persons of 
all faiths have been there.

[[Page H2269]]

  At the March on Washington, if you take a close look at that march, 
you will see persons of many hues, many stripes, persons from many 
walks of life.
  So we are here today, proud to be here in the well of the Congress of 
the United States of America, but we understand that we didn't get here 
by ourselves, and we are proud to celebrate black history. But we are 
also proud to acknowledge that black history includes the history of a 
lot of persons who were associated with our efforts to acquire our 
freedom, our liberty, and the opportunities that we enjoy today.
  Madam Speaker, I thank you very much for the time, and I proudly 
yield back the time such that you may continue with the business of the 
House.


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  February 27, 2019, on page H2269, the following appeared: The 
SPEAKER pro tempore. For what purpose does the gentleman from 
Texas seek recognition?
  
  The online version has been corrected to omit this text block.


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