[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BENNETT COLLEGE

  (Ms. MANNING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, this Black History Month, I am highlighting 
the long and rich history of Bennett College, an all-woman HBCU in my 
hometown, Greensboro, North Carolina.
  For over 150 years, Bennett College has been a beacon of social 
justice in the South.
  In the 1930s, the Bennett Belles protested racism in the film 
industry with protests at our local Carolina Theatre. In the 1950s and 
1960s, the Bennett Belles played a key role in the civil rights 
movement.
  In 1958, when Martin Luther King, Jr., visited Greensboro and 
struggled to find a place to speak, Bennett College president, Willa B. 
Player, gave him a stage. She said: ``Bennett College is a liberal arts 
college where `freedom rings,' so King can speak here.''
  Two years after Dr. King spoke on campus, the Bennett Belles staged a 
sit-in at the segregated Woolworth's lunch counter with The Greensboro 
Four. Their actions sparked a nationwide sit-in movement that forever 
changed the course of history.
  Today, Bennett College students and alumni continue to be 
changemakers. I am proud to recognize the immense contributions of the 
Bennett Belles this Black History Month.

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