[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H7466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CELEBRATING FRED GRAY'S 91ST BIRTHDAY

  (Ms. SEWELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a true American hero and one 
of our Nation's most distinguished civil rights lawyers, Attorney Fred 
Gray, Sr., as he celebrates his 91st birthday on December 14, 2021.
  A native of Alabama's Seventh Congressional District, Attorney Gray 
was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and came of age during the height of 
the Jim Crow segregation era.
  One of Alabama's first Black lawyers, he successfully litigated 
groundbreaking civil rights cases, representing the likes of Rosa 
Parks, Claudette Colvin, Reverend Martin Luther King, and even our own 
John Lewis and those protesters who dared to march across the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge. His trailblazing work dared this Nation to live up to 
its highest ideals, leading to the desegregation of the University of 
Alabama, Auburn University, and Alabama's public schools.
  Attorney Gray's long and accomplished career fought back against 
injustice wherever it existed. To paraphrase one of his clients, the 
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Attorney Gray was a drum major for 
justice, peace, and righteousness.
  As we celebrate another year of Attorney Gray's life, it is my hope 
that President Biden will strongly consider awarding him our Nation's 
highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. There is no 
one more deserving. Let's give him his flowers as he lives.

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