[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 127 (Friday, August 2, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING GINA SUGARMON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 2024

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay my respects to my friend 
Gina Sugarmon, a civil rights groundbreaker and a passionate advocate 
for children, who passed on Saturday at the age of 86. Mrs. Sugarmon 
came to the United States as a refugee escaping from defeated Germany 
after the Second World War ended and settled in Memphis after marrying 
a soldier from the area. That marriage ended, and she met and married 
Russell B. Sugarmon, a lawyer, judge and member of the Tennessee 
General Assembly. Their biracial marriage in 1968 caused a stir in 
then-racially fraught Memphis just months after the assassination of 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They were married 51 years. Russell 
Sugarmon passed in 2019, and I successfully introduced and saw signed 
into law the legislation that named the U.S. Post Office at 1325 Autumn 
Avenue in Memphis in his honor. Mrs. Sugarmon was active in the Head 
Start program that prepares young children for success in school for 30 
years. She also worked with the Memphis Council for International 
Visitors to show off her adopted city to foreign visitors with her 
unique international perspective. Mrs. Sugarmon was a trailblazer and 
an inspiration to all who came to know her. I valued her friendship and 
join her family, friends and admirers in saying hers was a life well-
lived. She will be missed.

                          ____________________