[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 107 (Thursday, June 25, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H4254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING DAPHNE MUSE

  (Ms. SIMON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Daphne Muse, a daughter of 
Washington, D.C., who made Oakland, California, her home for more than 
50 years. She recently transitioned at the age of 81.
  Daphne was a mother, a mentor, an intellectual, an avid disability 
rights advocate, a writer, and a keeper of Black letters. She helped 
run Drum & Spear Bookstore here in Washington, D.C., a legendary Black 
bookstore here in the Capital.
  For the crime of selling books to Black folks in the civil rights 
movement, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI placed her under surveillance.
  She answered with a life's work: collecting and gathering more than 
22,000 letters and papers documenting Black life across the diaspora.
  At Mills College, she served as a leader, mentored countless young 
women, and gave her heart to the education of girls and women. I was 
one of the beneficiaries of her love and her brilliance.
  Oakland, California, raised a giant, Mr. Speaker. May her name be in 
remembrance always.

                          ____________________