[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17455]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO REVEREND THEODORE JUDSON JEMISON

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, today I wish to ask my colleagues to 
join me in recognizing one of Louisiana's courageous civil rights 
leaders, the Reverend Theodore Judson ``T.J.'' Jemison, who passed on 
November 15, 2013, at the age of 95 in Baton Rouge, LA. Reverend 
Jemison, the youngest of six children, was born in Selma, AL in 1918.
  Reverend Jemison attended Alabama State College for his undergraduate 
degree and received a master's of divinity degree from Virginia Union 
University. He became a heroic leader in the civil rights movement, 
served as pastor of Mount Zion First Baptist Church for nearly a half 
century, and was president of the National Baptist Convention for 12 
years.
  Reverend Jemison orchestrated the Baton Rouge bus boycott of 1953--a 
model that would later be adopted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 
Montgomery, AL. Reverend Jemison actively pressured the Baton Rouge 
City Council to ensure equal treatment for African-American passengers 
who were barred from seating in areas designated White-only. Through 
this work Reverend Jemison helped expand the civil rights to many of 
the citizens of Louisiana.
  Reverend Jemison served as president of the National Baptist 
Convention, the largest Black Baptist organization in the United 
States, from 1982-1994. As the organization's president, Reverend 
Jemison worked to promote the principles of the social gospel. He also 
oversaw the construction of the Baptist World Center in Nashville, TN. 
Reverend Jemison worked tirelessly to fight for equality, education, 
and opportunity not only for African Americans in Louisiana but across 
the country as well.
  Reverend Jemison was a true inspiration to all that had the great 
privilege to know him. I am grateful and honored to have known him. My 
deepest condolences go out to his family and all of those whose lives 
he touched. My deepest condolences go out to his family and all of 
those whose lives he touched. He will be greatly missed.

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