[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16974]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 248--HONORING THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF DAME LOIS 
 BROWNE EVANS, BERMUDA'S FIRST FEMALE BARRISTER AND ATTORNEY GENERAL, 
   AND THE FIRST FEMALE OPPOSITION LEADER IN THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH

  Mr. BROWN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 248

       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans was born in 1927 in Bermuda, 
     and attended the Central School and Middle Temple at London's 
     Inns of Court in the United Kingdom;
       Whereas, in June 1952, at the age of 26, Dame Lois Browne 
     Evans was called to the London Bar, and the following 
     December called to the Bermuda Bar and opened her own 
     practice;
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans became Bermuda's first 
     female barrister and went on to a distinguished career as a 
     leading counsel;
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans was a lifelong advocate for 
     the rights of workers and black Bermudians and a prominent 
     member of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP);
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans was elected to Parliament in 
     1963 and became the first black female to serve in 
     Parliament;
       Whereas, in 1968, in Bermuda's first general election in 
     which all adults were entitled to vote, Dame Lois Browne 
     Evans was elected the PLP's Parliamentary Leader and became 
     the first female Opposition Leader in the British 
     Commonwealth;
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans held the position of 
     Opposition Leader until 1972 and, in 1973, became Jamaica's 
     Honorary Counsel in Bermuda, the first Bermudian to serve in 
     this capacity;
       Whereas in 1976 Dame Lois Browne Evans was again elected to 
     Parliament and served as the Opposition Leader until 1985;
       Whereas the PLP won its first election in 1998 and Dame 
     Lois Browne Evans was appointed Minister of Legislative 
     Affairs;
       Whereas in 1999 Dame Lois Browne Evans became Bermuda's 
     first elected Attorney General and first female Attorney 
     General;
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans was Bermuda's longest 
     serving Member of Parliament;
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans debated at the historic 
     London and Bermuda Constitutional Conferences and served as a 
     delegate to numerous international conferences in Africa, New 
     Zealand, the United States, and the Caribbean;
       Whereas Dame Lois Brown Evans was a member of the 
     International Federation of Women Lawyers and a founding 
     member of the Bermuda Business and Professional Women's Club;
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans led an exceptional life in 
     which she played a major role in the racial integration of 
     Bermuda and advanced the cause of civil, human, and minority 
     rights in Bermuda and throughout the world; and
       Whereas Dame Lois Browne Evans passed away on May 29, 2007, 
     at the age of 79: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) expresses its profound sympathy to the family of Dame 
     Lois Browne Evans and the citizens of Bermuda on the passing 
     of Dame Lois Browne Evans; and
       (2) commends the exemplary lifetime achievements of Dame 
     Lois Browne Evans, her commitment to public service, and the 
     singular role she played as a true pioneer who forged the way 
     ahead for women and minorities.

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