[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 23]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 32240]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         REMEMBERING THE HISTORIC LIFE OF LOUISE ELIZABETH BUIE

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 8, 2003

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 
life of Louise Elizabeth Buie, who died on December 2, 2003. This 
diminutive woman, known throughout her home state of Florida and beyond 
for her contributions to the civil rights movement in America, packed 
the equivalent of two lifetimes into her 89 years.
  Beginning in the 1930s, Louise Buie, as a member of her local branch 
of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 
(NAACP), fought against segregation in its many forms. She served as 
president of the branch for fourteen years during the 1950s and '60s 
and was at the forefront of every battle to integrate schools, 
hospitals and restaurants. It was Louise Buie who demanded that black 
baseball players be allowed to room with their white teammates in West 
Palm Beach, and it was Louise Buie who insisted that West Palm Beach, 
Riviera Beach and other cities in South Florida hire African-Americans 
as police officers and firefighters. Previously, those municipalities 
had restricted people of her race to jobs as janitors and laborers.
  Louise's voice and dynamic personality were ever-present in seventy 
years of struggles over school desegregation and dozens of other 
disputes involving employment discrimination and demands for equal 
rights for all citizens. At a time when black citizens were denied 
admittance to most of the county's hospitals, she ignored the 
skepticism of her fellow African-Americans and started the fight that 
resulted in the desegregation of Palm Beach County's major medical 
facilities. When her grandchildren wanted to go to the beach during a 
time period when beaches were restricted to whites, Louise took her 
grandchildren anyway. Although she was arrested for her actions, Louise 
prevailed, and the beaches were opened to all citizens.
  It was Louise Buie who forced the abolition of the Palm Beach County 
school district's ``all white'' textbooks that excluded any mention of 
the history and contributions of African-Americans in our nation. She 
was also at the forefront of the movement that brought courses in black 
history to the curriculum of Palm Beach County schools. As time went 
by, more and more of the barriers to full participation in our society 
were broken down by the efforts of this amazing woman.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a song that is often chanted at protest marches 
and rallies. It begins, ``Ain't gonna let nobody turn us around.'' That 
sums up the life of Louise Buie. No one ever turned her around.
  Although Louise was best known and most often honored for her civil 
rights work, she didn't confine herself to battles for the betterment 
of the lives of black citizens. Anywhere there was injustice, Louise 
could be counted on to speak out and assist those whose rights were 
infringed upon. She became known as the little lady with the big heart.
  Her lifetime of fighting against injustice won her innumerable 
friends and admirers among people of all races and every economic 
stratum, including myself. Opponents of segregation came to recognize 
her as a formidable adversary and eventually realized the futility of 
holding to their outdated views. Elected officials and other powerful 
people respected her opinions and welcomed her input and wise counsel.
  I knew ``Mrs. L.E. Buie,'' as she called herself, for a very long 
time. I cannot possibly calculate the immense value of all that I 
learned from her. As with so many other people she met in her lifetime, 
she was an enormous influence on me. I know how proud she was of my 
election to Congress, seeing that victory as validation of her decades-
long effort to raise African-Americans to a level equal to that of 
white citizens. Nevertheless, we both knew, and I still know, that 
America has a long way to go.
  Two years ago, in an effort to convince a local town to adopt the 
Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday for its citizens, Louise Buie, at age 
87, walked a mile with other marchers and stood on the steps of the 
town hall through more than an hour of speeches. When one of my long-
time staff members, who had been sitting down, later commented on her 
stamina, she replied, ``I'm used to standing.'' Until a few weeks 
before her death, Louise Buie was still fighting battles and collecting 
awards. In recognition of the many lives she touched and the huge 
impact that she had on the people of Palm Beach County, the Urban 
League building in West Palm Beach is co-named for her.
  Mr. Speaker, there will never be another human being like Louise 
Elizabeth Buie. Her impact will be felt for generations to come. She 
opened many doors, often with only the strength of her personality. 
Because of her work, innumerable African-Americans and people of all 
races have walked through those doors, and we are extremely grateful 
for the phenomenal person that she was. Her memory will live with me 
always.

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