[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 125 (Tuesday, July 22, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E710-E711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF CLARA GIPSON-MCKNIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 22, 2025

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy 
of a remarkable woman, Clara Gipson-McKnight, on the occasion of her 
95th birthday on February 3, 2025. Mrs. McKnight's courage, resilience, 
and lifelong commitment to education and justice have left a lasting 
impact on her community and beyond. Her story is not only one of 
personal triumph, but also one of heroism in the face of injustice.
  Mrs. Gipson-McKnight was born on February 3, 1930, in Summerton, 
South Carolina, to Annette and Johnnie Gipson. After losing her mother 
at a young age, she was raised by her father and stepmother alongside 
her siblings. A member of Spring Hill A.M.E. Church, Mrs. Gipson-
McKnight was deeply shaped by her faith and her community. As a child, 
she attended a small three-room school attached to the church before 
advancing to Scott's Branch High School. With no transportation 
available, she lived with Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine--a civil rights 
leader--and bartered her farming skills in exchange for room and board.
  Mrs. Gipson-McKnight and her family were active participants in the 
fight for civil rights

[[Page E711]]

and educational equity. Her parents were signatories on one of the 
petitions demanding equal facilities for Black students--part of the 
legal groundwork that lead to the Briggs v. Elliott case and, later, 
Brown v. Board of Education. As a result of their activism, the Gipson 
and DeLaine families endured brutal retaliation, including harassment 
by the Ku Klux Klan. Mrs. Gipson-McKnight was living with the DeLaine 
family when their home was set on fire by the KKK--an attack she 
miraculously survived. Undeterred, she continued her studies, walking 
miles along rural roads to reach a school bus stop after the community 
pooled its resources to restore a broken-down vehicle for student use.
  Following her graduation, Mrs. Gipson-McKnight attended Allen 
University in Columbia, where she became the first in her immediate 
family to earn a college degree. She returned to Summerton to teach and 
serve as a school principal, but like many Black educators after Brown 
v. Board, she was unjustly dismissed due to white resistance to 
integration and the purging of civil rights activists. Mrs. Gipson-
McKnight then moved to New York City, where she worked for nearly three 
decades in the city's Social Services agency.
  Mrs. Gipson-McKnight married Harold McKnight in 1963, and they shared 
53 loving years of marriage before his passing in 2019. In retirement, 
she has remained active as a family historian, storyteller, and 
traveler.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and our colleagues join me in celebrating 
the 95th birthday of Mrs. Clara Gipson-McKnight. She is a living 
witness to some of the most consequential moments of the 20th century--
and through it all, she has remained a steadfast believer in education, 
justice, and the power of community. May her legacy continue to inspire 
future generations for years to come.

                          ____________________