The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H627-H630 on Feb. 22, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days to enter remarks into the Record on this topic of Black History Month.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. FUDGE. I appreciate the opportunity to anchor this Special Order hour for the Congressional Black Caucus. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and I represent the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.
CBC members are advocates for human rights and advocates for families, nationally and internationally. We also play a significant role as local and regional activists. We work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress, but also provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens and congressional districts that have elected us.
The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus was to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens. It continues to be a beacon and focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today. To celebrate the month of February, we are proud to present a reflection on black history. Specifically, we will herald the unsung history makers in our communities.
The origin of Black History Month, just for the record, what we now call Black History Month, was originated in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson as Negro History Week. The month of February was selected in deference to Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in that month.
The son of a slave, Carter G. Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia, in 1875. He began high school at the age of 20 and then proceeded to study at Berea College, the University of Chicago, the Sorbonne, and Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1912.
Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 to train black historians and to collect, preserve, and publish documents on black life and black people. He also founded the Journal of Negro History, Associated Publishers, and the Negro Bulletin. Woodson spent his life working to educate all people about the vast contributions made by black men and women throughout history. Mr. Woodson died in 1950. Black History Month continues his legacy of educating everyone about black history, which is American history.
I am privileged to commend several amazing trailblazers within my congressional district's African American community.
David Albritton. David Albritton lived from 1913 to 1994, a pioneering African American in the Ohio General Assembly. Interestingly enough, he was also a high jumper in the Olympic games.
Albritton was born in Danville, Alabama, the hometown of Jesse Owens. Like Owens, Albritton was raised in the great city of Cleveland and became a track star at East Technical High School. Albritton also accompanied Owens to Ohio State University and the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. During tryouts for the Olympics, he tied a world record of 6 feet, 9\1/2\ inches in the high jump.
In 1960, he moved into public service when he won a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. In the House, he was named Chair of the House Interstate Cooperation Committee, making him the first African American in Ohio history to head a House committee. Albritton, a black hero raised in Cleveland, Ohio, is a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Ohio Sport Hall of Fame, and the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame.
Then, Madam Speaker, there is Harry Smith. Harry C. Smith was born in 1863. He was a pioneer of the black press. Shortly after graduating from Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, he founded the Cleveland Gazette. The newspaper would become the longest publishing black weekly in America, earning its nickname ``The Old Reliable.'' It never missed a Saturday publication date in 58 years.
Like Albritton, Smith was also a member of the Ohio General Assembly. In the course of his three-term career, Smith sponsored the Ohio Civil Rights Law of 1894 that established penalties against discrimination in public accommodations. In 1896, Smith sponsored the Mob Violence Act of 1896, which was an antilynching law. Though he lost his bids for the Republican nomination for Governor in 1926 and in 1928, he broke ground as the first black candidate for the position of Governor.
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Fannie Lewis: Fannie Lewis was a dynamic, revered, and respected member of Cleveland's City Council who passed away in 2008. Lewis was actually a native of Memphis, Tennessee, who moved north to Cleveland in 1951.
A decade after she moved to her new hometown, she began her public life as a community activist in the Hough neighborhood. Even after she was elected to council in 1979, she kept her grassroots approach to politics--looking out for her hardworking constituents. Councilwoman Lewis fought relentlessly for her ward, never giving in and never giving up on Hough.
This dedication led to the passage of the Fannie M. Lewis Cleveland Resident Employment law, which requires construction projects receiving
$100,000 or more in funding from the city to employ people who live in the city on those projects.
Jane Edna Hunter: Jane Edna Hunter was a prominent African American social worker who founded Cleveland's Phyllis Wheatley Association.
Born to a sharecropper, Hunter defied the odds and graduated with a nursing degree. She later attended Marshall Law School in Cleveland, and passed the Ohio bar examination.
In addition to her legal career, Hunter was a dedicated philanthropist. She organized the Phyllis Wheatley Association in 1911 to provide safe living quarters for unmarried African American women and girls.
Following retirement, she founded the Phyllis Wheatley Foundation, a scholarship fund for African American high school graduates. She also founded the Women's Civic League of Cleveland, belonged to the NAACP, and served as vice president and executive committee member of the National Association of Colored Women.
Highly esteemed around the Nation, Hunter was granted honorary degrees from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, and Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Mary Brown Martin: Mary Brown Martin, who championed academic achievement for all children, was the first black woman elected to the Cleveland Board of Education.
She was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to former slaves. In 1886, she moved to Cleveland, where she graduated from Central High School in 1900.
In the 1920s, Martin was dedicated to teaching in the Cleveland public schools. She was profoundly dedicated to the students, and she advocated for their needs.
To increase her advocacy for children, she ran and was elected to the Board of Education in 1930. She served three terms. The Mary B. Martin Elementary School on Brookline Avenue was named in honor of her service.
Lastly, Madam Speaker, the black commanders of Cleveland: I congratulate Deputy Chief Prioleau Green, Commander Dwayne Drummond, Commander Ellis Johnson, Commander Dean McCaulley, Commander Leroy Morrow, and Commander Calvin Williams from Cleveland, Ohio.
These outstanding law enforcement officers have honorably served and protected the people of Cleveland for more than 20 years, and they are still serving our city today. These outstanding officers were recently recognized by The Call and Post newspaper for their tireless service, exemplary leadership, and commitment to the community.
I am proud they are among our police department's leadership--
protecting our people and risking their lives to keep our community safe.
I am proud of all of these amazing black heroes who have given Cleveland its legacy of excellence and its legacy of activism. The 11th Congressional District of Ohio, which includes Cleveland, is a great place to live with its amazing history of black involvement and achievement.
I now yield to my colleague from Texas, Representative Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Let me thank the Congresswoman from Cleveland, Ohio, Congresswoman Fudge, for her leadership on providing for the Congressional Record a recounting of the history of African American people and for particularly highlighting the notables of her congressional area.
I rise today to join as a participant in the Congressional Black Caucus special hour celebrating black history. It's interesting that my friend and colleague started out with Dr. Woodson, who is called the
``father of black history.'' I was sitting in church, at the Greater St. Matthew Church, where Pastor Gusta Booker is the presiding minister and pastor. In their black history program, a young man stood up and recounted the history of Carter G. Woodson.
That is what black history is about--the carrying on of the story, the embedding of the history of a people who are part of this American landscape into the hearts and minds of our young leaders. That is what our purpose should be today, as our message will be forever embedded in the Congressional Record--that on this day, February 22, 2010, we stood to honor those who made a difference.
In my congressional district, let me simply call the roll:
Mr. John Chase, one of the first African American architects and, clearly, a person who paved the way for architects to follow.
Dr. John B. Coleman, one of the first African American doctors. He has a highway named after him. His son is Representative Garnet Coleman, who is a leader in his own right and who is a senior member of the Texas legislature. The legacy continues.
Dr. Zeb Poindexter, Sr., one of the first African American dentists who built a building and who began serving our community, and now his legacy is passed on to his son.
Dr. Edith Irby Jones, one of the first graduates from the University of Arkansas Medical School, who has been in the practice of medicine in Houston, Texas, for 50 years.
E.M. Knight, one of the champions of political advocates and social justice advocates, now passed, who advocated for the right of African Americans in Houston to vote.
Christie Adair, of whom I had the privilege of sitting, in essence, at her feet as the first secretary of the NAACP, which was a real accomplishment for women during those days.
Moses Leroy, a union fighter, an advocate for social justice.
The Reverend C.L. Jackson, who followed a great pastor at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and who really was the first pastoral architect of the largest church in our community, a dome church, built when others said it could not be built.
The Reverend Jack Yates, who organized and led the Fourth Ward/
Freedman's Town, who our Jack Yates High School is named after. This pastor was a social activist as well.
The Reverend Bill Lawson, who came to Texas Southern University as a young pastor and led those students through the civil rights movement.
Then I would like to emphasize the fact that out of these leaders comes so much, and much of it is done by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Let me continue in the roll call:
Constable A.B. Chambers, in Texas, the first African American constable-law enforcement officer in the history of the State of Texas, since passed.
Constable May Walker, the first African American woman law enforcement officer and constable in the State of Texas.
Chief Lee P. Brown, the first African American chief of police in Houston, Texas who came after a rough and often violent experience between the African American community and those who did not understand diversity. The chief of police brought such grand opportunities.
Let me just finish so that I can show the nexus between these leaders in Houston, Texas, and the leaders whom I want to honor in the Congressional Black Caucus:
Adam Clayton Powell, who chaired one of our most important committees, who was one of the architects of Medicare and Medicaid and who fought for the establishment of the Department of Labor and who fought for the opportunity for people to work.
The Honorable Shirley Chisholm, who reminds us that she was unbossed and unbought and who reminded all of us that, even if named to the Agriculture Committee as the new freshman Congresswoman, she rose to be a fighter for justice but also to be an architect of legislation that helped her constituents in a place called Brooklyn, as she would say.
Then my colleagues who were my predecessors:
The Honorable Barbara Jordan, who said that she didn't mind being called a ``politician'' as long as she could be called a ``good politician.'' We will never forget her words ``we the people'' as she sat on the impeachment proceedings of Richard Nixon. She established the vitality of the Constitution, and we will be forever indebted to her voice and her words.
Then, of course, the Honorable Mickey Leland, of which so much in this Congress is named after. But more importantly, he left a spirit of humanitarianism that has never been overcome. Mickey cared for those who could not care for themselves. He died on the side of an Ethiopian mountain, trying to feed those who were starving in Ethiopia, but he left in his memory many things, including the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim program, the Mickey Leland Internship and the Mickey Leland Hunger Center, because hunger has not been stamped out. Mickey's memory continues to be part of that.
My immediate predecessor, the Honorable Craig Washington, 25 years in the Texas State senate. At that time, he was known as the single champion for justice.
As the Congresswoman from the 18th Congressional District, it is important to note that we are part of a synergism. That is what black history is about. So, when we talk about black radio, it was a creature of the advocacy of African Americans. When we talk about cable and about the expansion of diverse programming, it is a creature of African Americans in the United States Congress. When we now talk about health care reform and about speaking to the issues of disparities and of making sure that health care reform fits our communities, it is, in fact, a creature of the United States Congress and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
In conclusion, let me pay tribute to one Member whom I had the privilege of working with, Juanita Melinda McDonald. She passed. I am reminded that she became the first African American chairwoman of the House Administration Committee. What she did as a member of that committee was, again, to focus this Congress on the wide diversity of the Congress, helping to put the first portrait of an African American woman Congressperson--that had never been done. She helped to work with me and C. Delores Tucker on establishing the opportunity for the Sojourner Truth Bust to be placed in the United States Congress.
We have so many giants, and this is a very important time to be able to say ``thank you'' to them. I stand with a great appreciation, and for this Congressional Record to reflect that, as we have had those who have gone on, what they have done has generated opportunities for so many today.
I thank my colleague, and yield back.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very much.
I now yield to my friend and colleague from the Virgin Islands, Representative Christensen.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, and thank you once again for holding this Special Order. I know how difficult it is to do this week after week, and we really appreciate all of your efforts.
Madam Speaker, I join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus this evening in our tribute to Black History Month. Since we are largely a black community, I want to use this time to speak about my home district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the United States Virgin Islands.
I feel the need to do this because the mainstream media and some of our colleagues have been treating my district as though we were not a part of this country. Recently, some of our Republican colleagues in this body have even taken to using funding to my district as the poster child for spending that Americans simply cannot afford. Because we have been blessed with sunshine and beaches, and because most Americans from the States have only the images of people at play to reference our territory, we are often targeted as not deserving of stimulus funding, as being too expensive to be funded in health care, as not requiring homeland security, even though it is for the protection of the entire United States as well as for us, as not deserving of our funding to preserve our precious natural areas, as too beautiful for Federal officials to come to for hearings and site visits that are done in other districts. There are other unfair characterizations that overlook the fact that we are a community with health, education, economic development, and other needs just like other districts represented in this body.
We are Americans, and our people have fought and died in every conflict from the American Revolution through the world wars and right through to the present conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other points around the world. Today, 200 of my constituents are in Kosovo and Guantanamo, and others are about to be called up to other parts of the world. They serve in our National Guard. We are proud of them in their service. Like our sister territories, we have given more lives per capita in our wars and conflicts than most other States.
Well, Madam Speaker and colleagues, we are tired of being spoken of as though we are not part of the American family, and I wanted to use this opportunity to point out the familial bonds which stretch all the way to the founding of this Nation.
The Virgin Islands became a part of the American family in 1917 as this country needed a strategic presence in the Caribbean to help defend the Panama Canal during World War I. There was talk long before in the administration of President Abraham Lincoln of purchasing our island territories, but those talks stalled, and we were not to be transferred to U.S. authority until the Woodrow Wilson administration. During that time, our forefathers were not consulted about the sale and had no opportunity to say yea or nay. Yet we accepted our new Nation, as difficult and denigrating as those first years were for us, determined to make the best of it for us and for the United States of America. Let's go even further back than that.
During the Revolutionary War, St. Croix served as a transshipment point for the gunpowder for the Revolutionary Army, not to mention that our rum, which some tend to malign today, helped warm the soldiers during those cold nights on the battlefield. We were major fueling and ship repair stops for ships of the new American Nation and for others crossing the Atlantic.
One of our sons of the Marco Family, who served in the Revolutionary War, created the very first version of the flag for the 13 colonies. According to some accounts, the first salute to the stars and stripes occurred in the St. Croix harbor in 1776.
So we are not new to the support of and loyalty to this country, and we have and continue to serve and honor it in any way we can. The Virgin Islands proudly count as one of our own one of the great Founding Fathers of this Nation, Alexander Hamilton. He, of course, is credited, among other important contributions, with creating the Nation's financial system, and he served as the first Secretary of the Treasury.
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He came to St. Croix as a boy of about 9 years old, and it was his education and training there in the shipping industry that covered the American and Caribbean ports which laid the foundation for the path he, and, indeed, our country, was to follow.
Many other early leaders of this country had ties to the Virgin Islands. There are many more, too numerous to name them all. But as we celebrate Black History Month, we can point to several other important persons who have helped to shape the United States that we know today. And note that I'm focusing on those who made their biggest contributions to our Nation. There are countless more also worthy of recognition who have guided and continue to guide us in the United States Virgin Islands.
The first person I want to mention is William Alexander Leidesdorff, a native of St. Croix, credited with being the first black millionaire. He helped to build the City on the Bay. He was a member of San Francisco's first town council, helped create its first school, opened its first hotel, and was the city's first treasurer.
J. Raymond Jones of New York, who was known as the Silver Fox of Tammany Hall in New York City, hailed from St. Thomas. Also born in St. Thomas, Terrence Todman served this country as ambassador for many distinguished years in Argentina, Denmark, and other countries.
One of the intriguing writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen Imes, also hailed from our shores. Arthur Schomburg, for whom the Center for Research in Harlem is named, is from a St. Croix family. In the U.S. labor movement, St. Thomas's Ashley Totten was a lieutenant of A. Phillip Randolph in the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Frank Rudolph Crosswaith, another labor luminary, created the Trade Union Committee for Organizing Negro Workers, the Negro Labor Committee, and became a founding member of the anti-Communist Union for Democratic Action.
Famous American musicians who hailed from the U.S. Virgin Islands include Benny Benjamin, who wrote ``I Want to Set the World on Fire,'' and Jon Lucien, a jazz favorite for many generations. There are many, many others.
In sports, we have Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs and Raja Bell of the Phoenix Suns. They follow in the footsteps of many other mainstays from the golden era of American baseball like Horace Clarke, Valmy Thomas, Joe Christopher, and all the others who came from the Virgin Islands. And we have many young stars who are making their name in track and field and other areas.
Our boxing legends include Emile Griffith, Livingston Bramble, and Julian Jackson. There are many more, as I said, in sports that I can't name due to the time limitation.
But there are also the hundreds of thousands of Virgin Islanders who over the 93 years that we have been a part of the American family have loved it and served it in so many other ways, just like our fellow citizens of the United States who are represented by my other colleagues. And all that we ask is that we, our contributions, our service, and our citizenship be recognized and given the appropriate respect.
Madam Speaker, the Virgin Islands has a rich, diverse, long, loyal, and productive history as a part of the American family. Like many of our sister districts, we are also susceptible to all the challenges of our great country, such as the devastating recession, threats to our homeland, escalating crime, and the need for improvements in education and health care. Spending on the Virgin Islands and the other territories is not frivolous spending. And, by the way, much of those dollars that come to us are spent not only to improve the lives and services for our residents but for the millions of people from all over the United States who visit our shores every year.
It has been hard for me as a representative of these proud Americans in the U.S. Virgin Islands to have to listen to the negative rhetoric coming from the other side of the aisle as I have sought to represent, like they do, my district. It has been painful to have to work so hard to get fair treatment in Medicaid, other health programs, and to get that fair treatment in health care reform, as well as to provide SSI for our individuals who have special needs.
It has been difficult to have disparaging remarks made about our reported unemployment at 8.5 percent when the tools available in other States are not available to enable us to have an accurate count. When undertaken by our university some years ago when our unemployment was reportedly around 7 percent, a more thorough assessment determined that it was as high as 13 percent in St. Croix and a little less in St. Thomas, and that was during better times.
I consider it to be a disservice that there might be Republican objections to holding a hearing in the Virgin Islands on the Constitution that our elected delegates have drafted for this Congress' consideration in the place where it will govern if passed and adopted. It's a milestone for any territory. And why? Because it's a beautiful place? I was to go to the Grand Canyon for a site visit today. It's a very beautiful place, and I don't think anyone objected to that.
Madam Speaker and my colleagues, thank you for the time to speak about this important part of our country's black history, our country's history, and the opportunity to remind those who don't seem to know that we are proudly American and that we ask nothing more than to be treated as such.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very much.
Madam Speaker, those of us who have had the privilege and the pleasure and the honor to serve in this House, we create history every day. Every single day. I just hope that all of my colleagues will make their service worthy of emulation, that it will be a source of pride to our people, and that we will encourage others to seek a life in public service.
So many people look at what they call ``politicians'' as such a dirty word. I am a public servant. I get up every day, and every morning when I leave my apartment, I say, I am going to do the people's work. That is my job. That is what I was brought here to do. I hope there is someone out there who recognizes what we do, who understands the significance of who we are, and they will feel the same sense of pride we feel today talking about all of the people on whose shoulders we stand today.
Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing us to have this hour this evening. It is always a sense of pride for our people to know that we are still fighting the good fight and we understand from whence we have come.
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