[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1046]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF GWEN BRITT

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, today, along with my colleagues from the 
Maryland delegation, I want to take this opportunity to honor the life 
and legacy of a beloved figure from our State who passed into God's 
hands on January 12, State Senator Gwen Britt.
  Gwen lived a full, wonderful life. She was a wife, a mother, a 
grandmother, legislator, a civil rights leader and a friend. But she 
also was an inspiration, a woman of deep faith and conviction, with an 
unshakable commitment to achieving justice, equality and fairness in 
our Nation.
  The former Gwendolyn Greene grew up in northeast Washington at a time 
when our Nation was failing to live up to its promise of equal 
opportunity. She knew the racial divisions that existed in this 
segregated city, in our schools, in our stores, even in our parks.
  And so in 1960, as an 18-year-old student activist of Howard 
University, Gwen and members of the District of Columbia's non-violent 
action group decided to take a stand. She walked into the Montgomery 
County park, then segregated, and tried to climb aboard a horse on a 
merry-go-round; something that all of us today would think is normal 
for any American, particularly any young American.
  Yet as the Washington Post reported, the students' actions, as 
innocent and as unprovocative as they seem today, sparked 5 days of 
protests, and Gwen and other activists were arrested for trespassing, 
spat upon and harassed by counter-demonstrators.
  This experience left Gwen undeterred. In fact, it fortified her 
already strong character, as well as her determination to do what she 
knew in her mind and in her heart was right.
  Gwen took to heart Dr. King's words, ``Make a career of humanity, and 
you will make a greater person of yourself, a greater Nation of your 
country and a finer world to live in.'' So said Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Gwen Britt took that to heart. So she did make our Nation a finer 
place in which to live. That experience in Glen Echo Park was only the 
beginning of Gwen's civil rights work.
  She left Howard University to join the Freedom Riders who challenged 
Jim Crow laws in the South and in our transportation system. And in 
1961, she spent 40 days in a Mississippi jail for sitting in a whites-
only train station.
  John Lewis was one of Gwen Britt's friends. John Lewis, a hero, a 
Member of this body. More people know about John Lewis because of his 
extraordinary leadership, but Gwen Britt was there by his side on 
Freedom Rides.
  It is a testament to Gwen Britt's humility and quiet confidence that 
she never advertised her proud and very important civil rights work.
  As Maryland State Delegate Victor Ramirez of Prince George's County 
recently said, ``She talked about the civil rights movement if you 
brought it up, but she was one of those people who spoke softly but 
carried a big stick.''
  Since her passing, words of tribute have poured forth. Governor 
Martin O'Malley noted, ``She was a leader long before her years in the 
Senate.'' How true that is. Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown called 
her a ``principled, active and fair-minded voice for equality.''
  And Prince George's County executive Jack Johnson said she was ``one 
of the most honest people you ever met.'' And on The Washington Post's 
Web site, people who knew Gwen posted words of sympathy and tribute.
  For example, Katey Boerner, the executive director of the Glen Echo 
Park Partnership for Arts and Culture, has said some, almost 50 years 
after the demonstration that occurred to open up Glen Echo's amusements 
to people of all colors, ``We plan to include her story of bravery and 
shepherding change in our upcoming civil rights exhibition here at the 
park. We can now treasure her memory for the amazing story that was her 
life and the impact that she had on so many through her leadership.''
  Not surprisingly, Gwen Britt also made an important impact in the 
State Senate after she was elected in 2002. She rose to the position of 
deputy majority leader in 2007 and became an unwavering voice for those 
who have felt the cold chill of exclusion.
  Carl Snowden, the director of civil rights in the State Attorney 
General's Office in Maryland, said this, ``She saw other groups that 
have historically been locked out of the system: women, Latinos, gays. 
And she felt all of those left out had to have a place at the table.''
  Gwen Britt was a woman of extraordinary character and courage, and 
all those she touched during her 66 years on this earth, her beloved 
family; her sons, who spoke so eloquently at her funeral; her husband, 
who himself was a Freedom Rider, who himself was a great warrior and 
advocate for justice in the civil rights movement.
  The State of Maryland and our Nation have been enriched by her 
actions and her leadership, as a young person, as a State Senator, as a 
neighbor, as a friend.
  Mr. Speaker, today I want to extend my condolences to Gwen's husband 
of 46 years, Travis; her two sons, Travis, Jr., and John; and all of 
her family and many friends.
  We will miss her dearly, although we are comforted that her life and 
legacy will endure and that she now is at rest in God's hands.
  Gwen will live as so many before, in the hearts and minds of those 
she impressed, of those she motivated, of those she enriched. We will 
miss Senator Gwen Britt, but our State, our community and our Nation 
have been made better by her life.

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