[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 5, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H817-H818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONTINUING TO CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Michigan 
(Ms. Scholten) for 30 minutes.
  Ms. SCHOLTEN. Madam Speaker, each February, we come together as a 
nation to celebrate Black History Month. While we may have just closed 
out Black History Month, our celebration here in Congress and back home 
in west Michigan continues.
  This year, I had the honor of partnering with the Grand Rapids 
African American Museum and Archives to elevate the stories of west 
Michigan's heroes, barrier breakers, and change-makers who shaped the 
course of our community and our Nation's history.
  I am proud to offer these six stories of change-makers from 
Michigan's Third Congressional District. Here are their stories.
  First, as we stand at this bridge between February and March, Black 
History Month and Women's History Month, as we just heard from our 
incredible Congressional Black Caucus, it is appropriate to begin with 
our first story, the story of Emma Warren Ford.
  Mrs. Ford was a well-known community organizer who challenged Jim 
Crow laws and protested discrimination in the late 19th and early 20th 
centuries.
  She began her work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the 
Women's Christian Temperance Union, the WCTU. At the 1982 WCTU State 
convention in Benton Harbor, she was appointed as the superintendent of 
the Work Among Colored People.
  She was a founding member of the Married Ladies' 19th Century Club, 
hosting meetings and leading activities for the first literary and 
social club for African-American women in Grand Rapids.
  In 1913, Mrs. Ford was chosen by Governor Woodbridge Ferris to 
represent the State of Michigan at the 50th anniversary celebration of 
the Emancipation Proclamation in New York. What an honor for west 
Michigan.
  Our second story is the story of Paul Phillips. Phillips grew up in 
Omaha, Nebraska, where he set a State record in track, earning himself 
a scholarship to Marquette University. Later, he received a master's 
degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Fisk University. In 1946, Phillips 
came to Grand Rapids to work for the Borough Community Association. 
Passionate about civic and community work, by 1947, he became executive 
director and secretary of the Grand Rapids Urban League, where he would 
continue to serve for more than 30 years, including through the civil 
rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, serving as a calm and strong 
force against racial discrimination.
  Phillips was passionate about documenting and researching Black 
history in Grand Rapids and is one of the most influential contributors 
to the local history that we know today.
  In 1951, Phillips won election to the City Charter Commission, one of 
the first African Americans elected to public office in Grand Rapids. 
He was also the first African American elected to the city's board of 
education.
  During President Gerald Ford's time in office, Phillips served as a 
consultant on minority citizen concerns. In 1972, Phillips received an 
honorary doctorate of humane letters from Grand Valley State 
University.
  In 1967, Phillips passed away. The Paul I. Phillips Boys and Girls 
Club in Grand Rapids is named in his honor.
  The third story is that of Yvonne Little Woodward, the sister of 
Malcolm X and a local leader and advocate in west Michigan.
  Yvonne secured her place of recognition as the first African-American 
telephone operator for Michigan Bell in Grand Rapids in 1948.
  Her son said: ``She knew if she didn't do the right thing, it would 
take years for them to hire another Black operator.''
  In Grand Rapids, the operators took a vote on whether they were 
willing to work with her. The vote was unanimous except for one, who 
Little later won over.
  From her engagement with customers at the Woodland Park grocery store 
to her civic involvements, winning people over was at the heart of how 
she interacted with her community.
  Little was often called on to speak in west Michigan and elsewhere 
where children were the audience, focusing always on the next 
generation.
  Our next story is Merze Tate. Merze Tate defied the odds during the 
Jim Crow era and became a college dean and professor, a world traveler, 
an international reporter, and an adviser to General Dwight D. 
Eisenhower.
  Tate was born 60 miles northeast of Grand Rapids in Blanchard, 
Michigan, in 1905. She longed to see the world outside the pine trees 
and dirt roads and to receive an education.
  After high school, Tate applied to the University of Michigan but was 
rejected because of the color of her skin. This obstacle did not 
prevent her from getting an education. She was invited to attend 
Western Michigan University by President Dwight B. Waldo. In 1927, Tate 
became the first African American to graduate from that institution.
  In 1935, she went back to school and became the first African 
American to earn a graduate degree from Oxford University. Her 
dissertation and scholarly interest focused on disarmament, and she 
pursued a Fulbright fellowship in India.
  This wealth of experience led her to an appointment as an adviser to 
General Eisenhower on international relations. It also formed the basis 
for her

[[Page H818]]

continued scholarly work on the subject.
  Her second book, ``The United States and Armaments,'' was widely used 
by the Department of State and Committee for World Development and 
World Disarmament. In 1984, the Department named Dr. Tate one of three 
Americans to represent the United States at a UNESCO seminar.
  Tate made history throughout her career. In 1941, she became the 
first African-American female to earn a Ph.D. in political science from 
Harvard University. In 1970, she became the first African American to 
receive a distinguished alumni award from Western Michigan University.

  Tate was a college professor at several institutions, including 
Barber-Scotia College, Bennett College, Morgan State College, and 
Howard University, where she taught from 1942 to 1977.
  She spoke five languages, traveled the world twice, was an 
international reporter for Baltimore's Afro-American newspaper, and 
worked as a photographer, filmmaker, and researcher for the U.S. State 
Department, all while being a college professor.
  Tate passed away in 1996 at the age of 91. She has left millions to 
institutes of higher learning that looked beyond her race and gender to 
provide her with a stellar education and to inspire her to impact the 
world in many areas for generations to come.
  We next have a pair of stories, those of Major Denzal Harvey and Dr. 
Robert Garrison. Major Harvey and Dr. Garrison both have strong 
connections to the Muskegon community and served as Tuskegee Airmen 
during World War II.
  Denzal Harvey was born at Hackley Hospital and graduated from 
Muskegon High School. In high school, he earned a letter in track, 
where he was only one of a few men of color on the team.
  In 1941, Harvey enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a private first 
class and by 1942 had been sent to Air Corps' advanced flight school in 
Tuskegee, Alabama, where he joined the 99th Fighter Squadron.
  The 99th Fighter Squadron in 1943 was assigned to North Africa, 
flying hand-me-down aircraft on support missions. They joined up with 
other African-American aviation units there to create the 332nd Fighter 
Group.
  The 99th eventually moved to Foggia, Italy, where the group served as 
fighter escorts to B-24 bombers in bombing raids over the Mediterranean 
and Europe.
  It was the bombing crews that gave the group its name, ``Red Tails.'' 
The National Park Service's Tuskegee exhibit notes that the transition 
from training to actual combat wasn't always smooth, given the racial 
tensions of the time. However, the airmen overcame the obstacles posed 
by segregation.
  In 1942, Harvey eventually began serving temporarily as a captain. It 
was extremely rare. At the start of World War II, there were only 12 
African-American officers in the U.S. military.
  As a captain, Harvey once had a corpsman who refused to salute him. 
His daughter said he responded with: ``You are going to salute the 
uniform if you don't salute me.'' She said: ``They made it look easy, 
but it was never easy because dealing with racism was never easy.''
  Garrison's daughter, Judy Rogers, says her father was reluctant to 
talk about the war. Until she was 45 years old, she never knew that he 
had been a Tuskegee Airman. ``He was proud of himself, but I can't say 
he actually enjoyed being in the war.''

                              {time}  2100

  Dr. Robert Garrison was from Ohio, but he spent his entire postwar 
adult life working as a physician in Muskegon after being hired by 
Hackley Hospital in 1958. He didn't much talk about his work or his 
service, and for many years, he was known mostly for his work as a 
doctor in the community.
  Harvey earned a degree from Muskegon Community College, worked as a 
real estate agent, and attended law school. He later returned to the 
Air Force, taking his family with him to far-flung bases. He finished 
his career working in the city of Detroit's municipal courts.
  His daughter, Judy Rogers, said he was the area's only Black 
physician for several years. In 1971, Garrison became the first Black 
member of the Muskegon Community College Board of Trustees. He served 
for 10 years as a trustee for the Community Foundation for Muskegon 
County.
  Finally, to close out this moment of reflection, we have the story of 
a storyteller. I would like to honor the Grand Rapids African American 
Museum and Archive's owned George Bayard. A long time Grand Rapidian, 
every single day, George is working to preserve west Michigan's African 
American history and keep memories alive for future generations.
  I couldn't be more grateful for his friendship, his partnership in 
this project, and our shared work together for our west Michigan 
community.
  Madam Speaker, this is for George. His passion and dedication to 
telling the stories of Black west Michiganians ensures that Black 
History Month is not contained just to a single month but that we 
recognize the contributions of African Americans in our community every 
day.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to maintain proper 
decorum in the Chamber.

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