[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1748]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING MRS. ELIZABETH SHARKEY KEGLAR

                                  _____
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 14, 2011

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
worthy member of our society Mrs. Elizabeth Sharkey Keglar. Her 
contributions to society are a great distance from Washington, in terms 
of miles but they are considered milestones back home in Tallahatchie 
County also known as the ``Free State of Tallahatchie''. She was 
married to Morgan Keglar in 1936 in which they had one son, Morgan, 
Jr., but one was just the start of her love to protect and teach 
children and allowed her and her husband to open their arms and home to 
four other boys.
  If you become familiar with her life and take into account the era in 
which she grew up along with where, the Mississippi Delta, then I am 
confident that you would join me in recognizing her this day. Mrs. 
Keglar was born November 12, 1914, in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, 
to James Sharkey and Roberta Wright Sharkey.
  ``The soul would not have a rainbow if the eyes didn't have tears.'' 
Her beginning was challenging and unsure. On the national scene she was 
born at the beginning of World War I (1914-November 1918) under the 
Woodrow Wilson Presidential administration. She lived through the Great 
Depression (1929-1940s) and a Second World War (1939-1945). She also 
lived through the Jim Crow laws of the dirty south. She along with 
other poor minorities and southerners in the south gained a sense of 
optimism with President Roosevelt's New Deal. On the local scene back 
home in Tallahatchie County, she was trying to live through two 
horrifying tragedies. One being the murder of her sister-in law in 
January 1966, Mrs. Birdia Keglar, longtime voting rights activist from 
Charleston, Mississippi, because of involvement in the civil rights. 
The other being the horrific murder of Emmett Till a fifteen-year-old, 
young black boy who was accused of whistling at a white woman in Money, 
Mississippi.
  However, in the midst of those and countless other events that helped 
to shape this country and Mrs. Keglar's life, she persevered. The way 
she dealt with them was through education. Education at that time was 
viewed as the only means of having a fighting chance of survival. 
Racism and murder were so rampant in the ``Free State of Tallahatchie'' 
that an education was vital. She told her high school principal, 
Professor Hopkins that she wanted to teach as her means of helping 
others. Professor Hopkins then took Elizabeth who was in eleventh grade 
at the time to the Tallahatchie County Courthouse to take a test to 
determine which grade levels she would be proficient enough in to 
teach. It was determined that her grade to teach would be the first 
grade. Afterwards, Elizabeth received her high school diploma in 1937. 
Teaching was a revered profession during that time because school 
houses for black, ``Negroes'' were done anywhere possible and often 
during certain times of the year (i.e., churches, outdoors, back rooms, 
after harvesting, etc.). In addition, she had to teach children of all 
ages in the same class. Mrs. Keglar taught at Mt. Levy Church School, 
which was a twelve mile walk from her home. She later transferred to 
Blue Cane Community School where she served as teacher and then 
principal. Her longest commute in the name of education was fifteen 
miles a day for eighteen years to and from Adams Quarter in the Town of 
Charleston. In 1960, Elizabeth graduated from Alcorn State University 
with her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education.
  Elizabeth said her drive in life which has helped mold her young and 
now ninety-seven years old is, ``to live right and reach for the 
stars'' and that is how she has contributed to minorities, her people, 
and children throughout her home county of Tallahatchie. Mr. Speaker, I 
ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mrs. Elizabeth Keglar and 
her commitment and contribution to this country.

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