[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 20 (Monday, February 5, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE LEGACY OF THE HONORABLE YVONNE B. MILLER

  (Ms. McCLELLAN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, in honor of Black History Month, I rise 
today to recognize the legacy of the Honorable Yvonne B. Miller, who 
became the first Black woman to serve in the Virginia General Assembly 
when she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates 40 years ago. 
Four years later, she became the first Black woman to serve in the 
Senate of Virginia. As a young member of the Virginia House of 
Delegates, I had the opportunity to work with Senator Miller when I was 
in the house until her untimely death of stomach cancer in 2012.
  I was proud to build on her legacy in the senate, and one of the 
habits that I took from Senator Miller was whenever she would have 
visitors come to her office, whether they were interns, students, 
university presidents, she would have them sit at her desk for a 
picture and she would say: This seat belongs to you as much as it 
belongs to me.
  She treated everyone the same whether you were a Governor, an intern, 
or anyone in between. You would often hear her shout in her loud, 
booming voice: You look gorgeous. She was a lifelong educator. She was 
a champion for those underprivileged and underserved communities, 
including her own in Norfolk, that she proudly represented.
  As the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia, I stand 
on Yvonne Miller's shoulders. I join my former colleagues in the 
Virginia General Assembly who recognized her with a commemorating 
resolution last week and are working on a tribute to her in our State 
capitol, where as a child she often did not feel welcome, but she broke 
barriers to ensure that Black women everywhere knew they belonged in 
that capitol. I honor her today and miss her very much, but I still 
hear her voice saying: You look gorgeous.

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