[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 81 (Thursday, May 12, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H4868-H4869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CELEBRATING DR. BERNARD LaFAYETTE JR. DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I proudly rise today to join the city of 
Selma, Alabama, in celebrating May 14, 2022, as Dr. Bernard LaFayette 
Jr. Day, honoring the extraordinary contributions of civil rights 
leader, activist, and advocate of nonviolence Reverend Dr. Bernard 
LaFayette, Jr.
  Dr. LaFayette made his mark in history as a civil rights organizer, 
minister, educator, and lecturer whose contributions to the civil 
rights movement have garnered him national recognition as a leading 
authority on the strategy of nonviolent social change.
  As a student advocate in the 1960s, he played a leading role in the 
early organizing of the Selma voting rights movement. Dr. LaFayette was 
an active participant in the sit-in campaign and the Nashville student 
movement, and he worked closely throughout the 1960s with groups such 
as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC, the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, and the American Friends Service 
Committee.
  Dr. LaFayette began his activism as a student at American Baptist 
Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was taught by 
teacher and SCLC mentor James Lawson the techniques of nonviolence.
  Dr. LaFayette learned alongside fellow students John Lewis, James 
Bevel, and Diane Nash before participating in the Nashville student 
lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960s.
  From there, his passion for civil rights continued to blossom, 
leading him to become one of the cofounders of SNCC, the Student 
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
  As a director of SNCC's Alabama voter registration project in 1962, 
Dr. LaFayette relocated to my hometown of Selma, Alabama, where he 
worked with the Dallas County Voters League to open voter registration 
clinics throughout the city of Selma.
  Gaining a reputation as a fiery organizer and passionate proponent of 
nonviolence, Dr. LaFayette expanded his work from Alabama to Chicago, 
working with the American Friends Service Committee, Dr. Martin Luther 
King, and the SCLC's Chicago campaign.
  He later became an ordained Baptist minister and served as president 
of his alma mater, the American Baptist Theological Seminary.
  Dr. LaFayette is recognized as one of the leading proponents of 
nonviolent direct action in the world. He has taught and preached the 
philosophy of nonviolence in many colleges and universities across the 
globe.
  He was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including from 
Mount Holyoke College, the University of Rhode Island, and Antioch 
College's Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual 
Freedom.
  Dr. LaFayette has written several books about his experience in the 
civil rights movement and books covering his views and thoughts on 
nonviolence. These books include ``The Leaders Manual: A Structured 
Guide and Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence,'' ``The Briefing 
Booklet: An Orientation to the Kingian Nonviolence Conflict 
Reconciliation Program,'' and most recently, ``In Peace and Freedom: My 
Journey in Selma.''
  For over 50 years, Dr. LaFayette has remained dedicated to equality 
and justice for all, lecturing at various universities and traveling 
internationally to train the next generation on how to achieve social 
change using the philosophy of Dr. King and nonviolence.

[[Page H4869]]

  I ask my colleagues to join me and the citizens of the city of Selma 
and Dallas County, Alabama, in declaring May 14, 2022, as Dr. Bernard 
LaFayette Jr. Day in celebration of the extraordinary life and legacy 
of the Reverend Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., an Alabama gem and an 
American treasure.

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