[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 168 (Friday, October 13, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING REVEREND MARVIN CHANDLER: PASTOR, PEACEMAKER, AND MUSICIAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANDRE CARSON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 13, 2023

  Mr. CARSON. Mr. Speaker Pro Tempore, today I rise to honor Reverend 
Marvin Chandler, my constituent, and a renowned Hoosier who made 
profound accomplishments in the Civil Rights Movement, as a jazz 
musician, and through his work as a pastor promoting peace. Rev. 
Chandler was born in Bloomington, Indiana on October 3, 1929, and he 
was 93 years old when he died at his home in Indianapolis on September 
23, 2023.
  After graduating from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in 1963, Rev. 
Chandler was appointed as Associate Executive Director of the Rochester 
Area Council of Churches--as the Council's Christian Education 
Director. The following year, during the tragic Rochester Race Riots, 
Reverend Chandler served as a liaison between the Black community of 
Rochester and the Council of Churches. Working with a small group of 
community and church leaders he helped to facilitate recovery efforts 
from the 1964 riots.
  Rev. Chandler helped establish the Rochester Area Ministers 
Conference and was integral in the launch of the Freedom, Independence, 
God, Honor, Today (FIGHT) organization, a community organization formed 
in the aftermath of Rochester's 1964 riots. FIGHT advocated for change, 
taking on issues such as hiring practices, living conditions, and other 
critical areas. FIGHT leaders were also credited with stopping 
additional civil unrest when rioting hit other northern cities in the 
mid-1960s.
  As a part of FIGHT, Chandler not only served on the steering 
committee, but also played a key role in FIGHT's negotiations with 
Kodak. He worked with Kodak representatives to develop a job training 
program for the large number of unemployed black Rochesterians. 
Similarly, in 1971 Chandler put his peacemaking abilities toward 
efforts to resolve the prison riot in Attica County.
  After leaving Rochester, the Reverend Chandler served as an executive 
with the San Francisco Council of Churches. He was a leading expert on 
the life of Howard Thurman, the noted theologian, philosopher, and 
civil rights leader. Later, Rev. Chandler was a visiting professor at 
Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon, and he served as a visitor for a 
semester at Oxford University, England.
  Rev. Chandler received numerous awards over his lifetime, including 
an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Franklin College, Franklin, 
Indiana, and the Luke Mowbray Award for ecumenical work from the 
American Baptist Churches/USA in 2008.
  The Reverend was also an accomplished jazz pianist, inducted into the 
Indianapolis Jazz Foundation Hall of Fame in 2003, and a recipient of 
the Ralph Adams Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the life of a generous 
and inspiring leader, Rev. Marvin Chandler.

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