[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO MRS. C. DELORES TUCKER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 18, 2005

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize 
the life and legacy of Mrs. C. Delores Tucker, who once was the 
highest-ranking African American woman in Pennsylvania state 
government.
  In tribute to Mrs. Tucker, I would like to submit the following 
excerpt from the Washington Post Article, ``C. Delores Tucker Dies at 
78; Rights and Anti-Rap Activist'', written by Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb 
on Thursday, October 13, 2005.
  Mrs. C. Delores Tucker focused a spotlight on rap music in 1993, 
calling it ``pornographic filth'' and saying it was demeaning and 
offensive to black women. ``You can't listen to all that language and 
filth without it affecting you,'' she said.
  She passed out leaflets with lyrics from gangsta rap and urged people 
to read them aloud. She picketed stores that sold the music, handed out 
petitions and demanded congressional hearings. She also bought stock in 
Sony, Time Warner and other companies so she could protest at 
shareholders meetings.
  Crossing political lines, Mrs. Tucker, a Democrat, joined forces with 
former secretary of education William Bennett, a Republican, as well as 
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.). Bennett called her at the time a 
``daunting figure.''
  ``Usually I'm the noisy one, but she's ferocious,'' he said.
  In 1994, Mrs. Tucker protested when the NAACP, on whose board of 
trustees she sat, nominated rapper Tupac Shakur for one of its Image 
Awards.
  The Silver Spring-based organization she co-founded in 1984, now 
called the National Congress of Black Women, became the vehicle through 
which she waged her battle. She succeeded the late congresswoman 
Shirley Chisholm as national chair in 1992.
  Mrs. Tucker, an elegant woman who spoke with a stirring cadence, had 
a long history in the civil rights movement and politics. Early on, she 
raised funds for the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People and joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in marches 
and demonstrations calling for equality and justice.
  ``I realized we always started at the church and marched to the 
political kingdom, whether the local or state or national,'' she told 
the Washington Post in 1995. ``And I realized that's where we needed to 
go to make a difference. That's where the decisions are being made that 
affected our lives, but we weren't in those seats.''
  Cynthia Delores Nottage was born in Philadelphia on Oct. 4, 1927, the 
10th of 11 children of a minister and a ``Christian feminist mother.'' 
She played the organ and saxophone and directed the choir in church. 
She attended Temple University, Pennsylvania State University and the 
University of Pennsylvania.
  In 1951, she married William Tucker, a construction company owner who 
grew prosperous in Philadelphia real estate. She later sold real estate 
and insurance in Philadelphia.
  In the 1960s, after her experiences in the early civil rights 
movement, she delved deeper into the political arena, working on behalf 
of black candidates and serving on the Pennsylvania Democratic 
Committee. She came to be known as a master fund raiser.
  In 1971, she was named secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
by then-Governor Milton Shapp (D), making her the highest-ranking 
African American woman in state government. In 1978, she ran for 
lieutenant governor; in 1980, for the U.S. Senate; and in 1992, for the 
U.S. House but was not elected to office. However, her political 
involvement continued. She was head of the minority caucus of the 
Democratic National Committee and a founding member of the National 
Women's Political Caucus. She chaired the Black Caucus of the 
Democratic National Committee for 11 years and spoke at five Democratic 
conventions.
  Mrs. Tucker, the recipient of numerous awards, also founded the 
District-based Bethune-DuBois Institute to provide educational and 
training programs for black youths.
  Survivors include her husband, William Tucker of Philadelphia.
  He once said that she was ``one of the most fearless individuals I 
have ever known. She will take on anyone, anything, if that is what she 
thinks is right. . . . I tell her there are times you have to 
compromise, but she is not one who will readily entertain the idea of 
compromise about anything.''
  I take great pride in commending Mrs. C. Delores Tucker for her 
outstanding contributions to Pennsylvania State Government, national 
politics and the African American community.

                          ____________________