[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27984]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                IN TRIBUTE TO CLARENE LINCOLN ROBERTSON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 19, 2001

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, many of us in the U.S. House of 
Representatives have had our lives enriched and our spirits 
strengthened through the work of Rev. Doug Tanner, President of the 
Faith & Politics Institute. His teacher and mentor, Clarene Lincoln 
Robertson taught American History to Doug at Rutherfordton-Spindale 
Central High School in North Carolina in 1962-1963. Doug Tanner was one 
of the students whose life and vocation she profoundly influenced. I 
rise today to pay tribute to Clarene Lincoln Robertson who will be 100 
years old on January 11, 2002.
  Clarene Lincoln and her twin brother were born in the Shenandoah 
Valley of Virginia, near the town of Tenth Legion on January 11, 1902. 
Clarene rode horseback to elementary school and went by sleigh in the 
winter. When she entered high school, she went to live during the week 
in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and came home on the weekends. She graduated 
from Elon College in North Carolina in 1925.
  After teaching at Huntington Girls' College in Montgomery, Alabama, 
she went to Duke University for a Master's Degree and met W.B. 
Robertson. Their summer romance has lasted 65 years. They married in 
1936 and moved to Rutherfordton, North Carolina, where Clarene began 
her 30-year teaching career at Central High School. She initially 
taught both English and American History, but she moved to history only 
when one of her students said, ``Oh, Mrs. Robertson, you learned me all 
the English I ever knowed.''
  Mrs. Robertson gave birth to her only natural child, daughter Mary 
Ella in January 1938. Arthur, her stepson from Mr. Robertson's previous 
marriage, died at age 65. Clarene and ``Robby'' have five grandchildren 
and eight great grandchildren. Only a year or so ago, they moved from 
Rutherfordton to Blanco, Texas, where they live with Mary Ella and her 
husband David.
  Clarene Robertson taught high school American History like a college 
course. Some students opted to take the required course in summer 
school to avoid the rigor of her class. Others--some willingly, some 
reluctantly--submitted to her demanding academic standards. Those 
students often completed the course with both a deeper knowledge of and 
appreciation for our Nation's history and an eagerness to follow 
current events and engage in civic and political life.
  Doug Tanner graduated from high school in 1964, having taken her 
history class in 1962-1963. Both he and Mrs. Robertson recall that Doug 
entered the class reflecting and embracing the strong racial prejudice 
typical of white Southerners at the time. Clarene Robertson was not 
about to let him continue to carry that attitude without her having 
challenged it as thoroughly and effectively as she possibly could.
  The civil rights movement was nearing its height in the spring of 
1963, and current events were a regular part of the curriculum. In 
addition, Mrs. Robertson required Doug to read John Howard Griffin's 
``Black Like Me'' and, in spite of resistance, assigned him to a select 
group of students to make a presentation on African-American history to 
the rest of the class. Although several other students readily 
volunteered for the project, Mrs. Robertson assigned some of them to 
other topics. She insisted that Doug be among those who would learn and 
wrestle with all the issues of race in America. Mrs. Robertson also 
served as advisor to the student government, and worked closely with 
Doug in his capacity as junior class president.
  The following summer, when the civil rights movement touched Doug's 
heart more directly through experiences in his southeastern Methodist 
Youth Fellowship, his mind was prepared to embrace the monumental 
change that racial desegregation was bringing throughout the South. It 
was in that notable historical context that Doug received his calling 
into a ministry combining faith, racial justice, and politics.
  Today, Clarene Robertson's influence on Doug has helped him to lead 
the Institute's Congressional Conversations on Race program and its 
Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimages to Alabama. We are indebted to 
Mrs. Robertson for being such an exceptional teacher and mentor. It is 
with great pleasure and appreciation that we wish her a very happy 
100th birthday on January 11, 2002.

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