[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21769]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              PERRY PARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DIANE E. WATSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, it is with much sadness that I rise today to 
announce the passing of my very good friend and colleague, Perry 
Conrade Parks, Jr.
  Perry Parks was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1908, to Professors 
Perry C. Parks, Sr. and Sophia Parker Parks on the campus of Clark 
Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. The family moved to East 
Chicago, Indiana, where Perry attended school.
  Perry Parks later attended Tennessee State College and transferred to 
Wiley College in Marshall, Texas where he lettered in four sports 
(football, basketball, track, and tennis) and graduated in 1934.
  After graduation he joined his family in Los Angeles and took a job 
as a social worker for the California State Relief Administration. Soon 
after establishing himself in California, he married his college 
sweetheart, Artemisia Stilwell.
  Perry Parks later worked for the Federal Postal Service, from 1936 to 
1971. He was a founding member of the United Public Workers CIO, as 
well as an organizer of the National Alliance of Postal Workers. He was 
in the forefront of the struggle to implement a merit system in 
employee evaluations and promotions. He was also a champion of equal 
opportunity for women.
  He filed the first successful anti-discrimination claim against the 
Los Angles Post Master for failure to promote him to Supervisor. His 
discrimination claim paved the way for equal employment opportunities 
for people of color, leading to the appointment of the first African-
American Post Master in Los Angeles.
  Perry was an ardent warrior in the pursuit of fairness, inclusion, 
and representation in the civic process. He stood on the front line of 
the civil rights movement in the 1960s as an early organizer of the 
Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Southern California. Mr. 
Parks served as Vice President of the Barrio Defense Committee, 
President of the South Central Welfare Planning Council, and a board 
member of the Los Angeles Urban League and United Civil Rights 
Committee. He was a founding member of the Brotherhood Crusade.
  After his retirement, Perry Parks continued to serve his community as 
Field Representative for Congresswoman Yvonne B. Burke and 
Assemblywoman Teresa Hughes.
  Perry Parks was a proud army veteran of World War II and a devoted 
member of Holman United Methodist Church. He is survived by his two 
sons, Perry C. Parks III and Henry Stilwell Parks; his two sisters, 
Lucy Hamilton and Carrie Jones, all of Los Angeles; his grandsons, 
Perry C. Parks IV of Atlanta, Georgia, and Oren Callan Jeffries of Los 
Angeles; nieces Patricia Parks White, Frances Jones Taylor, Muriel 
Jones Parker of Los Angeles and a host of other devoted relatives and 
friends.

                          ____________________