[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 192 (Monday, December 12, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1256-E1257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND LEGACY OF DR. EDMUND WYATT GORDON OF 
                            POMONA, NEW YORK

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MONDAIRE JONES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 12, 2022

  Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize renowned 
psychologist, scholar, research scientist, author, and professor, Dr. 
Edmund Wyatt Gordon of Pomona, New York. Professor Gordon, who turns 
102 on June 13, 2023, is one of our nation's preeminent thinkers on 
improving the academic outcomes for children from marginalized and 
disenfranchised backgrounds. His decades of scholarship, leadership, 
and mentorship demonstrate his commitment to eliminating race-based 
discrimination and ensuring the political, educational, social, and 
economic equality of all Americans.
  Dr. Gordon was born in 1921 in the segregated town of Goldsboro, 
North Carolina. Education was a core value in the Gordon family; his 
parents, an elementary school teacher and a Jamaican-born doctor, 
encouraged him to focus on school. After graduating high school, he 
studied at Howard University, where he earned bachelor's degrees in 
Zoology and in Social Ethics in Divinity. He then received a master's 
degree in Social Psychology from American University and a Doctor of 
Education in Child Development and Guidance from Teachers College at 
Columbia University, where he developed a friendship with W.E.B. Du 
Bois.
  Through his years of education, Dr. Gordon became an expert in child 
development and devoted his career to uncovering and remedying the 
issues and challenges faced by non-white students in American schools. 
He was one of the first scholars to observe the ``achievement gap,'' or 
the disparity in measurable academic performance among students from 
different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. He was one of the first 
to argue for the importance of understanding students' unique 
perspectives and contexts to provide the best educational support 
possible, preemptively advocating for affirmative development in 
academic ability and supplementary education to improve the academic 
outcomes for diverse learners.
  Professor Gordon has been widely recognized as one of the leading 
Black psychologists of his time. His work has shaped our current 
understanding of child psychology and education. He has authored 18 
books, published more than 200 articles, and mentored countless 
professionals of color who today occupy leadership positions at top 
universities and social policy institutions.
  Dr. Gordon's scholarship has been highly impactful on social policy 
to improve the educational outcomes for students of color. His early 
research was cited in the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, 
to prove to the Supreme Court that school segregation harmed children. 
President Lyndon B. Johnson commissioned Dr. Gordon to design the Head 
Start program, which provided childhood education and services to 
under-resourced families. Professor Gordon worked to ensure that Head 
Start also addressed societal factors that impeded the educational 
development of low-income and historically

[[Page E1257]]

marginalized students. Under his leadership, Head Start became one of 
our most successful and effective programs to address poverty and 
combat systemic racial injustice.
  Professor Gordon has held appointments at several of our nation's 
leading universities, including the City University of New York, 
Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Stanford, Yale, and Yeshiva Universities. He 
served as the founding director of Teachers College at Columbia's 
Institute for Urban and Minority Education, which was recently renamed 
in Dr. Gordon's honor to recognize his impactful scholarship and 
service.
  As a long-time member and former president of the Spring Valley 
NAACP, Dr. Gordon has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to eliminating 
race-based discrimination, including in his, and my, home community. In 
2000, Professor Gordon and his wife, Dr. Susan Gitt Gordon, founded the 
CEJJES Institute and Library in Pomona, New York. The Institute, which 
sits on route NY-45 in Rockland County, is dedicated to improving the 
educational and social conditions of marginalized communities, 
especially the Black community, through providing resources for 
supplementary education, including community-based activities and 
learning experiences for students and their families.
  Dr. Gordon has been widely applauded for his contributions as a 
preeminent scholar in African American Studies and child development. 
He has been elected as a fellow to several prestigious organizations, 
including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Educational 
Testing Service established the Edmund W. Gordon Chair for Evaluation 
and Research in his honor. He has also received countless awards 
recognizing his service from organizations and publications including 
the American Educational Research Association, Diverse: Issues in 
Higher Education magazine, and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, 
and Emotional Learning, as well as honorary degrees from Bank Street, 
Brown, Howard, Mount Holyoke, Columbia, Yale, and Yeshiva Universities. 
These accolades recognize Dr. Gordon's lasting contributions to 
developments in supplementary and compensatory education, child 
development, and school desegregation.
  As someone who has known and admired Dr. Gordon since I was a young 
boy, I can personally attest to his contributions to our Rockland 
County community, and to my own trajectory to the United States 
Congress.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to 
join me in recognizing the accomplishments and legacy of Dr. Gordon. A 
trailblazer, he has been a lifelong advocate for the Black community 
and an early champion of psychological and innovative techniques to 
improve the academic outcomes for historically marginalized 
communities. Professor Edmund Wyatt Gordon's seven decades of selfless 
contributions through scholarship, research, teaching, and mentorship 
are unparalleled and will continue to advance equity in education.

                          ____________________