[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22958]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         DR. C. DeLORES TUCKER

 Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise today in recognition of 
the passing of a great Pennsylvanian, and great American, Dr. C. 
DeLores Tucker. Throughout her distinguished life, Dr. Tucker 
demonstrated an incredible amount of courage, selflessness, and 
compassion, as well as an unquenchable thirst for equality for all 
Americans. Dr. Tucker lived her life in a manner we should all aspire 
to, and she will be sorely missed.
  Born in Philadelphia on October 4, 1927, the child of a north 
Philadelphia pastor, Dr. Tucker was truly a daughter of Pennsylvania. 
She attended Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania-
Wharton School, and in 1951 married Mr. William Tucker, a successful 
Philadelphia real estate agent.
  Dr. Tucker had a significant, renowned history in the civil rights 
movement. Her involvement included raising funds for the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, participating in the 
1965 march in Selma, AL with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and founding 
the National Political Congress of Negro Women, now known as the 
National Congress of Black Women, and the Philadelphia Martin Luther 
King, Jr. Association for Nonviolence, Inc. Her devotion to obtaining 
equal rights for African Americans altered the future of this Nation, 
and history will remember C. DeLores Tucker as a patriot, a 
revolutionary thinker, and a credit to America.
  Dr. Tucker, a pioneer so often throughout her life, became the first 
African-American secretary of state for the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania in 1971. In assuming this position, Dr. Tucker also became 
the first African-American woman secretary of state in America's 
history. Dr. Tucker often walked upon the road less traveled, and while 
on this path, paved the way towards a better life for those that 
followed.
  Following her time as secretary of state, Dr. Tucker took up an 
intense interest in protecting our children, the future of America. She 
was founder and president of the Bethune-DuBois Institute, Inc., an 
institution with the goal of enhancing the cultural and intellectual 
development of African-American youth through scholarships and 
educational programs. Dr. Tucker was a firm believer in the 
preservation of values in our culture, and fought hard against the 
inclusion of explicit lyrics in rap and hip-hop music, citing their 
detrimental effect on the youth of this Nation.
  Personally, I had the pleasure to work with Dr. Tucker in her 
capacity as national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, 
Inc. Dr. Tucker and the organization she founded established the 
Sojourner Truth Crusade, an effort to put the likeness of Sojourner 
Truth on the Suffrage Monument that now stands in the Capitol Rotunda. 
In working with Dr. Tucker, I was able to see first-hand the 
dedication, the joy, and the passion that she brought to both her work 
and her everyday life.
  America has lost a great citizen with the passing of C. DeLores 
Tucker, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has lost one of its 
brightest stars. While we will surely miss Dr. Tucker and all that she 
brought to the lives of each person she touched, there is no question 
that her legacy will live on for years to come.

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