IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 182

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service

should issue a postage stamp commemorating Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 28, 2001

Mr. RANGEL submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on Government Reform

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States

Postal Service should issue a postage stamp commemorating Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Whereas Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was a Baptist minister,

crusader for civil rights, and one of the most effective

legislators in the history of the United States Congress;

Whereas Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was born November 29,

1908, in New Haven, Connecticut, and raised in the section of New York City known as Harlem, where his father was pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which

had one of the largest congregations in the Nation;

Whereas Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., earned a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University in 1930 and began his crusade for civil rights by leading a protest against Harlem
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Hospital for firing 5 African-American doctors because of

their race;

Whereas Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., earned a master’s degree

in religious education from Columbia University in 1931

and became pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church

after his father’s retirement in 1937, where Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., used the pulpit to spur political action;

Whereas in 1941 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was elected to

the New York City Council and began publishing and editing a weekly newspaper called ‘‘The People’s Voice’’;

Whereas in 1942 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., became a member of both the New York State Office of Price Administration and the Manhattan Civilian Defense, serving until

1944 and 1945, respectively;

Whereas Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was elected to the United

States House of Representatives in 1944, representing

the newly created 22d Congressional District of New

York, which later became the 18th Congressional District

of New York;

Whereas Congressman Powell served on the Committee on

Indian Affairs and the Committee on Invalid Pensions

and Labor during his first term, the Committee on Education and Labor beginning in 1947, and the Committee

on Interior and Insular Affairs from 1955 to 1961;

Whereas Congressman Powell challenged the informal regulations forbidding Black Members from using the facilities

of the Capitol that were reserved exclusively for Members

and admonished the notorious segregationist John E.

Rankin of Mississippi for vocalizing racist epithets

against Blacks on the floor of the House of Representatives;
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Whereas Congressman Powell introduced several bills to outlaw lynching, poll taxes, and discrimination in the armed

services, housing, employment, and transportation;

Whereas Congressman Powell attempted to attach an amendment that would have denied Federal funding to institutions that practiced discrimination to so many bills that

it became known as the ‘‘Powell Amendment’’;

Whereas Congressman Powell campaigned ardently for

Democratic Presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, garnering enough votes from African-Americans to ensure

Kennedy’s narrow victory in 1960;

Whereas Congressman Powell became the first African-American to chair the powerful Committee on Education and

Labor in 1961;

Whereas Chairman Powell was instrumental in passing bills

that increased the minimum wage, provided education

and training for the deaf, established standards for wages

and hours of work, and authorized the medicare, medicaid, Head Start, school lunch, vocational training, and

student loan programs;

Whereas Chairman Powell was decisive in passing the Civil

Rights Act of 1964, finally enacting his ‘‘Powell Amendment’’;

Whereas Congressman Powell came under attack from longtime enemies and committee members and was stripped

of his chairmanship by the Democratic Caucus of the

House of Representatives on January 9, 1967, and later

excluded from the 90th Congress by a vote of 307 to 116

on March 1, 1967;

Whereas Congressman Powell won a special election on April

11, 1967, to fill his seat during this exclusion, but did
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not return to Congress until 1969, when the Supreme

Court ruled that the House of Representatives had acted

unconstitutionally;

Whereas Congressman Powell returned to Congress, but was

stripped of his 22-year seniority;

Whereas Congressman Powell unsuccessfully sought renomination in the June 1970 primary, retired as pastor of the

Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1971, and died in Miami,

Florida, on April 4, 1972; and

Whereas Congressman Powell remains one of the greatest

civil rights advocates in the history of the United States:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) the United States Postal Service should

4 issue a postage stamp commemorating Congressman

5 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.; and

6 (2) the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee

7 should recommend to the Postmaster General that

8 such a stamp be issued.

Æ