[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 158 (Monday, September 14, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4358-H4359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CLARA LUPER POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend 
the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5597) to designate the facility of 
the United States Postal Service located at 305 Northwest 5th Street in 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the ``Clara Luper Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5597

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

     SECTION 1. CLARA LUPER POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 305 Northwest 5th Street in Oklahoma City, 
     Oklahoma, shall be known and designated as the ``Clara Luper 
     Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Clara Luper Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Cloud) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.


                             GENERAL LEAVE

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. 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 material on the 
measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of 
H.R. 5597 to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 305 Northwest 5th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the 
Clara Luper Post Office Building.
  Clara Luper made her mark in a time when people of color could not 
even walk through the front door of Oklahoma City businesses. She had a 
vision for equality, a heart for service, and a commitment to justice. 
She knew that Oklahoma and this country could be a place where everyone 
is treated with respect, dignity, and humanity.
  In August of 1958, Ms. Luper and 14 of her NAACP youth council 
students organized one of America's first sit-ins when they entered 
Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City to order a hamburger and a Coke. They 
were denied service but refused to leave. Though they were verbally and 
physically assaulted, they persisted.
  Within days of the sit-in, Katz Drug Stores integrated their lunch 
counters not just in Oklahoma City, but in three other States as well.
  Her initiative helped inspire the 1961 Greensboro, North Carolina, 
sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter, which fueled momentum within 
the civil rights movement.
  Ms. Luper continued her fight for freedom. She was arrested 26 times, 
integrated the history department at the University of Oklahoma by 
becoming its first African-American graduate of the master's program 
and worked tirelessly across the State in pursuit of her vision for 
justice. We should commemorate this heroine of the civil rights 
movement by naming a post office in her honor.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the honorable gentlewoman and my very good 
friend from Oklahoma, Representative Horn, for this legislation to 
honor a heroine of the civil rights movement.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5597, which would name a post 
office in Oklahoma after Clara Luper.
  Luper believed that Oklahoma and the United States should be a place 
where everyone is treated equally with respect.
  In 1958, she and 14 of her NAACP youth council students organized one 
of the first U.S. sit-ins at a Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma. They tried 
to order a hamburger and soda knowing that they would be refused solely 
because of the color of their skin.
  Though they were assaulted, they stayed with their cause. And within 
days, Katz Drug Stores integrated their lunch counters in Oklahoma and 
three other States.
  This sit-in helped inspire the 1961 sit-ins at the Woolworth's lunch 
counter in Greensboro, which was a critical moment during the civil 
rights movement.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much 
time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the great State of 
Oklahoma (Ms. Kendra S. Horn).
  Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman 
Maloney for taking up this important bill to honor Clara Luper and her 
sacrifice.
  Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to urge passage of H.R. 5597, a bill to 
rename the downtown Oklahoma City Post Office in honor of Clara Luper.
  Clara Luper, known as the mother of Oklahoma's civil rights movement 
was a teacher, a publisher, and so much more. On August 19, 1958, Luper 
and 13 NAACP youth council students led the Nation's first lunch 
counter sit-in at Katz Drug Store in downtown Oklahoma City.
  These sit-ins inspired similar action across the south during the 
civil rights movement, including the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in 
in Greensboro, North Carolina.

[[Page H4359]]

  When Luper and the NAACP students sat down at that lunch counter, 
they knew they would be refused. They also knew what was on the line. 
In Ms. Luper's words, ``Within that hamburger, was the whole essence of 
democracy.''
  Each day they returned to the drugstore with more people asking to be 
served. Though verbally and physically assaulted, they persisted. 
Sitting in peaceful protest, their fearlessness and determination 
resulted in Katz Drug Stores integrating lunch counters, not just in 
Oklahoma City, but also in Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa. And they went on 
to integrate lunch counters and businesses throughout Oklahoma City.
  Oklahoma City was ground zero for America's civil rights movement, 
and we have a responsibility to share that proud history and make sure 
that the story of the Oklahoma sit-in movement is never lost. Renaming 
the downtown post office in honor of Clara Luper is just one small step 
we can take to honor those who struggled and fought for civil rights in 
Oklahoma and across the country.
  We have come a long way because of the sacrifices of Clara Luper and 
those who stood with her in the civil rights movement, but there is 
much more work left to be done. This bill will take a step forward but, 
to me, the best way we can honor Ms. Luper is to uphold her legacy 
through a commitment to justice and equity in our laws and policies.
  Today, 62 years after Clara Luper and the NAACP youth council 
students first sat down at Katz Drug Store to stand up for justice, she 
and the sit-inners are inspiring a new generation of Oklahomans to take 
action through peaceful protest, to challenge injustice and systemic 
racism.

  Mr. Speaker, I hope the Clara Luper Post Office can stand as a 
testament to her enduring legacy, her courage, and her historic fight 
for justice, and I urge passage.
  Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of 
H.R. 5597, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5597.
  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.

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