[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3546]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING REVEREND WILLIE T. BARROW

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last week Chicago--and America--lost a 
civil rights leader and an icon. Rev. Willie T. Barrow passed away at 
the age of 90. Known as the ``Little Warrior,'' Reverend Barrow stood 
up to anyone who would deny equality.
  In 1936, 10 years before the Montgomery bus boycott, 12-year-old 
Willie Barrow challenged the segregated Texas school system that 
refused to bus African-American kids to school. In a recent interview, 
Reverend Barrow described it this way. One day, Barrow had enough and 
confronted the bus driver and school officials. ``You got plenty 
room,'' Barrow said she told the bus driver and school officials. ``Why 
you want me to get off? Because I'm black? We got to change that.''
  She was right. And from that moment, she dedicated her life to 
fighting for social justice and standing up for the most vulnerable in 
our society.
  In 1945, she came to Chicago and worked as a youth minister and a 
field organizer with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At the height of the 
civil rights movement, she followed Dr. King to Atlanta, where she 
organized meetings, rallies and transportation for volunteers who came 
to participate in the marches and sit-ins. She also helped organize the 
1963 march on Washington.
  Reverend Barrow didn't just fight for racial equality, she fought for 
women's rights, labor rights and gay rights too. While she helped Rev. 
Jesse Jackson start Operation Breadbasket on the South Side of Chicago, 
she was fighting sexism within the civil rights movement. During 
meetings, some even asked Reverend Jackson why he brought his 
secretary.
  But as Operation Breadbasket evolved into the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, 
Reverend Barrow became the first woman to lead the organization. As the 
chairman of the board and CEO, Reverend Barrow brought women together 
from the Chicago Network--an organization comprised of Chicago's most 
distinguished professional women--to talk about their leadership roles 
and the underrepresentation of women on corporate boards.
  Around Chicago, she was known as ``godmother'' for the work she did 
with many young community activists--including Barack Obama. She took 
on causes ranging from AIDS awareness to traveling on missions of peace 
to Vietnam, Russia, Nicaragua, Cuba and South Africa when Nelson 
Mandela was released from prison.
  Last Sunday, 70,000 people gathered in Selma, AL, to remember and 
celebrate the civil rights leaders who marched 50 years ago. Sadly, 
Reverend Barrow couldn't be there. But 50 years ago, Reverend Barrow 
was on the front lines, marching alongside Dr. King and future 
Congressman John Lewis.
  Years ago, I made the trip to Selma and stood on the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge where Reverend Barrow marched and John Lewis was beaten 
unconscious and nearly killed by Alabama State troopers. It was 
profoundly moving to see the places where leaders like these risked 
their lives to redeem the promises of America for all of us. And it's 
because of civil rights leaders like Reverend Barrow that our Nation 
has made progress in the pursuit of social justice. But we know that 
bridges run both ways. We can move ahead, or we can turn back. Without 
the courage, the leadership, and the determination of Rev. Willie T. 
Barrow, the fight to move forward just got a little harder.

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