[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 97 (Friday, June 7, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF MR. HUGHES VAN ELLIS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 7, 2024

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate, cherish, and honor 
the extraordinary life of Hughes Van Ellis, who was born in 1921 in the 
Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma--one of the flashpoints of the 
modern Civil Rights Movement.
  He, alongside his sister Viola Fletcher, was one of the last 
surviving witnesses of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
  At the time of his birth, the Greenwood District of Tulsa was a 
thriving community built up by its Black residents into a nationally 
renowned entrepreneurial center known as ``Black Wall Street.''
  In 1921, white supremacy and racist violence were common throughout 
the United States and went largely unchecked by the justice system.
  On the morning of May 30, 1921, Mr. Van Ellis and the other residents 
of Greenwood District had their world shattered when reports of an 
alleged and disputed incident between a young Black man and a young 
white woman gave the white community of Tulsa a pretext for violently 
attacking the prosperous Black community.
  The Tulsa Tribune called for a lynching amidst a climate of white 
racial hostility and white resentment over Black economic success.
  On May 31, 1921, a mob of armed white men descended upon Tulsa's 
Greenwood District and initiated the unchecked violence known today as 
the ``Tulsa Race Massacre.''
  Tulsa municipal and county authorities failed to take action to 
protect the Black community, nor did they attempt to calm or contain 
the violence.
  Law enforcement officials deputized many white men who were 
participants in the violence as their agents.
  In just 24 hours, the white mob's violence led to the death of an 
estimated 300 Black residents, as well as over 800 injuries.
  The white mob looted, damaged, burned, or otherwise destroyed 
approximately 40 square blocks of Black Wall Street in Greenwood 
District of Tulsa Oklahoma, which included an estimated 1256 homes of 
Black residents and virtually every other structure, including 
churches, schools, businesses, a hospital and a library.
  Nearly 9,000 Black Tulsans were left homeless and suffered over $200 
million dollars in losses.
  In the wake of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Governor of Oklahoma 
declared martial law and units of the Oklahoma National Guard 
participated in the mass arrests of nearly all of Greenwood's surviving 
men, women, and children, removing them from Greenwood and unlawfully 
detaining them in holding centers.
  Oklahoma local and state governments dismissed and distorted claims 
surrounding the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre for decades and the event was 
effectively erased from collective memory and history.
  The final injury to Black residents was that insurance companies 
refused to pay claims for the losses they suffered to the homes and 
businesses that had been looted or destroyed.
  Mr. Van Ellis dedicated his life to ensuring that this atrocity would 
not be forgotten and to the pursuit of justice for survivors.
  Through it all, his love of country shown through his service as a 
World War II veteran, fighting for our Nation's freedom.
  When he returned home, he continued to serve as a solider in the 
fight for civil rights, truth, and justice.
  He started a family with his wife, raising their seven children, 
while working as a sharecropper, mechanic, janitor, gardener, and a gas 
station attendant.
  In 2021, Mr. Van Ellis bravely sat before the United States House 
Judiciary Committee and testified to the dangers of structural racism 
and inequality.
  He drew attention to the abdication of responsibility by government 
and city officials to rebuild and repair the Greenwood community and 
testified to the government on the active blocking of recovery efforts 
by city officials.
  Alongside fellow survivors, he demanded that the government not 
forget about what happened in Tulsa and that the survivors should 
receive reparations for the trauma they endured.
  He was a vocal and staunch advocate for the enactment of H.R. 40, the 
Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African 
Americans Act, to address injury caused to the descendants of the 
formerly enslaved.
  He encouraged all people in the United States to reflect upon the 
history of the United States as an imperfect but committed journey to 
establish a more perfect union and to cherish and exercise the rights, 
privileges, and responsibilities guaranteed by the Constitution.
  Above all, Hughes Van Ellis refused to sit by quietly as a piece of 
his life was wiped from public memory as well as the history books.
  His staunch advocacy for justice and civil rights won over the hearts 
and minds of millions to his cause, passing on his determination to 
redress for the wrongs of the past.
  Hughes Van Ellis is survived by his daughters Malee V. Craft and 
Muriel Ellis Watson, as well as his sister and fellow survivor Viola 
Ford Fletcher.
  On behalf of the constituents of the 18th Congressional District of 
Texas, I take great pride in recognizing Hughes Van Ellis on a 
meaningful and prosperous life.

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