[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING LOLIS EDWARD ELIE

  (Mr. RICHMOND asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in honor of Lolis Edward 
Elie, one of the Nation's preeminent civil rights attorneys.
  Elie, a native of New Orleans, attended Howard University, Dillard 
University, and later earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School. Following 
graduation, Elie started the law firm of Collins, Douglas, and Elie, 
which became the most noteworthy firm in Louisiana for racial equality.
  In 1960, the New Orleans chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, 
or CORE, asked Elie and his firm to represent them following a sit-in. 
Elie and his firm defended CORE chapter president Rudy Lombard and 
three others who were arrested for staging a sit-in protest at the 
lunch counter of the McCrory five-and-ten-cent store. They appealed the 
case to the United States Supreme Court, which, in its decision, 
declared the city's ban on sit-ins unconstitutional. Later in his 
career, Elie was one of seven supporters of the Freedom Riders who met 
with Attorney General Robert Kennedy in 1961 when Kennedy encouraged 
them to shift their efforts to registering Black Southerners to vote.
  His son, Lolis Eric Elie, is a prominent writer and filmmaker.
  Lolis, Sr., still calls New Orleans home and mentors the younger 
generation through his training program for new Black attorneys. 
Through Lolis Elie's example, many young Black men and women are able 
to achieve much more than they ever thought possible, myself included.

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