[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 30, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          IN RECOGNITION OF MS. SHARON ``NYOTA'' TUCKER, J.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 30, 2019

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
distinguished scholar, dedicated attorney, and true visionary, Ms. 
Sharon ``Nyota'' Tucker. Nyota was honored for her contributions to 
academia and her community on Saturday, April 13, 2019, at the 
University of Georgia School of Law.
  A native of Dublin, Georgia, Sharon ``Nyota'' Tucker was born to the 
union of Mr. Willis Tucker and Mrs. Cornelia Tucker. During her junior 
year of high school, she joined six of her fellow classmates from 
Oconee High School in the integration of the previously all-white 
Dublin High School. This first-hand experience with desegregation 
convinced her that becoming a lawyer was the most effective means of 
combating racism, upholding the constitutional rights outlined in the 
Declaration of Independence, and forcing a system to correct itself. 
Nyota went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science 
from Howard University, before becoming the first African-American 
woman to receive a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of 
Georgia in 1974.
  Upon becoming a member of the State Bar of Georgia in 1974, she 
served in a number of legal and academic positions, including staff 
attorney in the Albany office of the Georgia Legal Services Program; 
legal intern with the Earl Warren Fellowship Program in the San 
Francisco office, NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and associate with the 
Albany, Georgia Law Firm of Mary Young & Associates. During Nyota's 
impressive tenure at Albany State University (ASU), she served as a 
faculty member and pre-law advisor, as well as a dual role as ASU's 
University Counsel (for eight years) and ASU's Chief of Staff (for five 
years). Her time at ASU allowed her to work with some of the brightest, 
most creative, and determined students in higher education.
  Nyota has been recognized numerous times for her professional and 
community work. She has received several Teacher of the Year Awards in 
addition to the 2015 Trailblazer Award by the UGA Black Law Student 
Association; the Justice Leah Ward Sears Award for Distinction in the 
Profession by the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys in 2016; 
the USG Chancellor's Recognition for Distinguished Service to the 
University System of Georgia in 2016; and both the 2018 and 2019 
Beverly Burton New Board Member of the Year Award for the Boys & Girls 
Clubs of Georgia and the Southeast Region. Moreover, on April 13, 2019, 
the University of Georgia School of Law unveiled a portrait of Nyota 
honoring her impeccable legacy and influential leadership.
  Former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm once said that ``Service is the 
rent that we pay for the space that we occupy here on this earth.'' 
Nyota has paid her rent many times over and still continues to give a 
prodigious amount of love and service back to her community. She has 
served on the Board of Trustees for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship 
Foundation, the Board of Directors for Liberty House, and as a member 
of the Advisory Committee on Law and Criminal Justice at the Washington 
Center. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Boys & 
Girls Clubs of Albany and a member of the Dougherty County Hospital 
Authority Board.
  Nyota has accomplished many things in her life, but none of these 
would have been possible without the enduring love and support of her 
loving children, Nairobi (deceased), Sadiqa, and Macharia; and her 
granddaughter, Imani.
  Madam Speaker, today I ask my colleagues to join my wife, Vivian, and 
me, along with the more than 730,000 residents of Georgia's Second 
Congressional District, in recognizing and commending Ms. Sharon Nyota 
Tucker, J.D., on receiving a well-deserved effigy recognizing her 
commitment and contributions to her community and academic field.

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