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8378 HON. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM March 21, 1977 HON. THOMAS A. LUKEN

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8378 HON. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM March 21, 1977 HON. THOMAS A. LUKEN 8378 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS March 21, 1977 PT boat skipper of Squadron ±7, and saw overwhelming black support on promises to "I've never seen somebody who had been combat in New Britain, New Guinea and New make blacks and other minorities a more as persecuted and harassed as much as she Hebrides as a Commander. He is a member meaningful part of his administration's de- had been and she just refused to be in- of the Doyle Post VFW, past commander of cision-making process than ever before. timidated," said Carl Holman, president of the Joyce Kilmer Post #316 American Legion, But even after 15 years of civil rights ef- the Urban Coalition: AAPHER, MAAPER, MSSPA, Gridiron Club, forts, there are no black elected officials in "She had a kind of inner serenity and sure- BoSox Club, Mass. Baseball Coaches Asso- Fannie Lou Hamer's home town of Ruleville, ness about herself. She didn't scream and ciation, and is the East district director of Miss. And there are no black county super- yell, but she stood up . Some people get physical education. visors in her home county of Sunflower, toughened by the battles and their spirit He now holds the title of phys-ed director where she used to sharecrop 300 to 400 seems to get a little harsh, but not Fannie." for the Boston Public Schools. He married pounds of cotton a day. Her spirit was fundamental to the main Dorothy Barry and has five sons: Tom Jr., a That county, then and now. is majority focus of her life, organizing poor black peo- teacher for the Boston Public Schools, Lt. black, one of many pockets in the South and ple to change the system that kept them Paul, a West Point graduate, now with the the North where the pace of change seems powerless and ashamed. 2nd Armored Div. at Ft. Hood, Texas, Gerard, glacial, where many whites remain deter- She understood something that is often who runs an Air Freight line, Francis, a mined, and many blacks remain convinced, overlooked: Children of the poor, unlike computer expert with the 1st National Bank that the old ways will not die. children of the middle and upper classes, of Bostcn, and Richard, a Sr. at Curry Col- From the time she joined a very young and usually cannot learn from their parents that lege. The whole family is a Cathedral fam- very scared but very determined group of they have a right to stand up and be ily, as Tom, wife and 5 sons all graduated civil rights workers in 1961, Fannie Lou Ha- counted. She taught that it was their duty from there. Tom Sr. graduated from Boston mer was a fighter and a teacher. She fought to stand up. College and was on the sugarbowl squad. fear. She taught perseverance. And she sus- "They respect people who respect them- He coached football for 23 years . and tained herself and those around her with selves," she once said of local whites. the decision of the Mass. Football Coaches faith in God, faith in simple people, and One of Fannie Lou Hamer's most impor- Ass'n. was that Tom Moran was their man faith in the ability of the system to deliver tant accomplishments was serving as a living for honors . I congratulate them on their justice when officials in power were slammed example to people born of that dirt-poor fine taste, as Moran is a man of high caliber. up against the wall hard enough. Mississippi soil that someone similarly born, She knew that the long road to better through faith and love and incredible per- days was open only to those willing to shake severance, could "keep on keepin' on. .. off setbacks and, as she sang over and over She lived to see the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which she helped found, HAMER again at mass meetings, "Keep on a-walkin', FANNIE LOU keep on a-talkin', trying to get to Freedom become a real force in state and national Land." The media that covered her activities politics. HON. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM called her a civil rights leader, but she was She was an example of the best of bonds really an organizer, in the best sense of that that young and old can form as they work OF NEW YORK difficult and timeless tradition. The organiz- together for change. "I'm sick and tired of IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES ers of today, who are spread all over the being sick and tired,"she used to tell the young people who seemed to flock to her for Monday, March 21, 1977 country and devote their lives to shaking up the system in an attempt to make it work for spiritual strength and strategic advice. Mrs. CHISHOLM. Mr. Speaker, on the little people, owe her a great debt. One of those who worked with her said March 14, Fannie Lou Hamer, a great "One of the great ladies of the '60s in The the song that most typified her was one she used to sing at mass meetings: warrior in the civil rights struggle, pass- Movement," Vernon Jordan of the National "I woke up this morning with my mind set on free- ed away. She was born in 1917 in Rule- Urban League called her. What made her so of the efforts nec- dom...." ville, Miss., the youngest of 20 children was a deep understanding essary to move poor, uneducated Southern in a poverty-stricken family. The lot of blacks who knew they could be killed for poor blacks was hers until well beyond breaching the customs of segregation, but HISTORY OF CLIFTON, OHIO childhood. In the early 1960's, her efforts wouldn't be free until they risked their lives at voter registration brought arrests, trying. evictions, threatening phone calls, abu- Those efforts are best defined in the stories HON. THOMAS A. LUKEN sive letters, and beatings. Though the that people who knew her well are telling OF OHIO delegation she led to the 1964 Deco- in the wake of her death. her on stage at the Mis- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES cratic Convention failed in its efforts to Jordan remembers sissippi Freedom Democratic Party conven- Monday, March 21, 1977 be seated, she was one of 22 blacks in the tion in Jackson in 1963, right around the 44-member group that unseated the reg- time the bodies of three slain civil rights Mr. LUKEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like ular-white-Mississippi delegation at workers were found in Neshoba County, lead- to call my colleagues' attention to a brief, the 1968 convention in Chicago. ing everyone in a chorus of "Ain't gonna let but very valuable publication, "Clifton: Fannie Lou Hamer was a major con- nobody turn me 'round. ." Neighborhood and Community in an tributor in the movement of the 1960's There is still a tinge of wonder in Jor- Urban Setting, A Brief History," by toward political enfranchisement and dan's voice as he recalls, "I remember driv- Henry D. Shapiro and Zane L. Miller. ing that same day from Jackson to Memphis, equality for all Americans. The Congres- Tenn., alone, and under her influence. I This book is scholarly, entertaining and sional Black Caucus recognized the mag- wasn't scared, you know what I mean?" informative. I will not attempt to define nitude of her contribution when it Not being scared in Mississippi in those for my colleagues the meaning the term awarded the George W. Collins Memorial days was one hell of an accomplishment. "Clifton" has to both its residents and Award to her last year. Recently, an But Fannie Lou Hamer didn't seem to be the residents of the surrounding area, article appeared in the Washington Post scared. Cincinnati, Ohio. The authors do this about the legacy left to all of us by Born the granddaughter of a slave, she eloquently. used to tell stories of what she had endured Fannie Lou Hamer. Its author, Austin as she traveled from church to church, from Clifton is certainly one of the most Scott, has made an eloquent and moving mass meeting, trying to inspire people to beautiful suburbs of Cincinnati. It is statement and I would like to bring it to "keep on keepin' on...." verdant, hilly, the home of our university the attention of my colleagues: She told about being thrown out of her and some of our most gracious residences, THE LEGACY OF FANNIE Lou HAMER home on a plantation the first time she tried many of which are over 100 years old. to exercise her right to register and vote. (By Austin Scott) Its citizens are a cosmopolitan group, She told about going into a hospital for many are professional people and all are One by one they move on-those great fig- what she thought was removal of a lump in ures whose hard work and suffering and love her stomach, and waking up to find she'd dedicated to their community. for common people and faith in the future been sterilized with a hysterectomy. The theme of this book is elaborated helped sustain "The Movement" of the 1960s. She told of how her home had been shot throughout. What kind of place is Clif- Some, like the Rev. Andrew Young, move into too many times to count, and of being ton? The authors are both historians, on up to positions of power in the system called "nigger bitch" by local police, and of both professors at the University of Cin- they challenged for so long, with such pain being beaten so badly in jail that she lived cinnati, both Clifton residents.
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