[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 379-380]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING MADELINE DeLOACH FRANKLIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 8, 2009

  Ms. LEE of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
extraordinary life of Mrs. Madeline DeLoach Franklin. A loving mother, 
grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, and compassionate soul, 
Madeline will be dearly missed by all who knew her. Madeline passed 
away on December 21, 2008, at the age of 94, less than 1 month short of 
her 95th birthday.
  Born on January 17, 1914, Madeline had a long and fascinating life. 
She not only witnessed the most transformative periods in our Nation's 
history, she actively participated in them. Madeline Franklin was a 
vanguard of the pre-civil rights era and an inspiring political mother 
to many activists from the civil rights movement up until the present.
  Madeline was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her parents, William and 
Dora C. DeLoach, moved the family from New Orleans to Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, during World War I. In Philadelphia, Mr. and Mrs. DeLoach 
founded St. Philip's Lutheran Church and raised their children in the 
spirit of community service. Growing up during the first decades of the 
20th century, Madeline shared a simple and happy childhood with her 
nine older siblings. It was during this time that Madeline developed 
her strong social values, faith in God, and belief in the necessity of 
justice and human dignity for all people. She would carry these values 
with her and teach them to those fortunate enough to know her for over 
70 years.
  After graduating from the prestigious Philadelphia Girls High School, 
Madeline returned to New Orleans to attend Dillard University, where 
she pledged as a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She 
graduated in 1939, and by that time had already fulfilled one of her 
dreams by becoming an accomplished pianist. Madeline was living in Pass 
Christian, Mississippi, and it was during this period that she decided 
to formally pursue a career in education and become politically active 
in the most important efforts of her time--actions that would serve as 
the precursors to the civil rights movement in America. Even before 
Rosa Parks' famous refusal to give up her bus seat to make room for 
White passengers in 1955, Madeline DeLoach was refusing to sit on wheel 
covers or wait for the next bus to come in the 1930s in Jackson, 
Mississippi.
  During that same period she met her future husband, Dr. Charles L. 
Franklin, who was living in New York after graduating from Columbia 
University in 1936 at the age of 25. At that time, Dr. Franklin was one 
of the youngest PhDs in the country, and the only African-American with 
a doctorate degree in his field. A specialist in social legislation, 
labor economics, and statistics, Dr. Franklin was an energetic 
intellectual at the forefront in the struggle

[[Page 380]]

for employment integration in the Federal government. On his own merit 
he received the highest average of all of the competitors in the New 
York State Civil Service Examination, bringing mass attention to the 
issue of inequality. Madeline and Charles were wed on May 24, 1943.
  Although not related by blood, Madeline was part of my extended 
family who I loved dearly. She was a wise woman who inspired me and 
supported me in all of my efforts. For that, I am deeply grateful.
  Madeline was an incredibly intelligent, sophisticated, and talented 
individual. She was an African-American woman born in the American 
south at the turn of the century, a teenager and young woman of the 
Great Depression, an adult of the pre-civil rights era, and a mentor of 
the civil rights movement. Undoubtedly, Madeline faced every 
conceivable challenge of her generation, gender, and as a person of 
color. However, not only did Madeline survive these difficult and 
tumultuous times, she triumphed and brought countless others up behind 
her.
  Today, California's 9th Congressional District salutes Madeline 
DeLoach Franklin, honoring her incredible life and inspiring legacy. We 
thank her family for sharing this amazing spirit with us, especially 
her three children, Charles L. Franklin, Jr., Dolores Mercedes 
Franklin, and Estelle Diane Franklin, her grandchildren, Sharath Smith 
and Michelle Franklin, Lynnette Franklin and Charles Franklin, her 
great-grandchildren Brian and David Smith, her daughter-in-law Alexis 
M. Herman, her grandsons-in-law Jeffrey Smith and Christian Duffus, and 
a host of additional family members and friends. May her soul rest in 
peace.

                          ____________________