IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 386 
Honoring retired Representative John Conyers, Jr., and extending to him 
the best wishes of the House of Representatives on the occasion of 
his 90th birthday. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 16, 2019 
Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. TLAIB, 
Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. COHEN, Mr. GREEN of 
Texas, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
JEFFRIES, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, 
Mr. THOMPSON
of Mississippi, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. 
BUTTERFIELD, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. LEE of 
California, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. 
JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. RUSH, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. CLAY) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
House Administration 
RESOLUTION 
Honoring retired Representative John Conyers, Jr., and ex-
tending to him the best wishes of the House of Rep-
resentatives on the occasion of his 90th birthday. 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., was born in Highland Park, 
Michigan, on May 16, 1929, and grew up in the city of 
Detroit, Michigan; 
Whereas after his graduation from Northwestern High 
School, John Conyers, Jr., served in the Michigan Na-
tional Guard from 1948 to 1950, the United States Army 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 May 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR386.IH
HR386
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 386 IH 
from 1950 to 1954, and the United States Army Re-
serves from 1954 to 1957; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., served for a year in Korea dur-
ing the Korean War as an officer in the United States 
Army Corps of Engineers and was awarded combat and 
merit citations; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., earned both his B.A. (1957) and 
LL.B. (1958) degrees from Wayne State University; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., was an active member of the 
Michigan Bar, co-founding the law firm Conyers, Bell & 
Townsend, working on the staff of Congressman John 
Dingell, serving as counsel to Detroit-area labor union 
locals, and serving as a referee for Michigan’s workmen’s 
compensation department from 1961–1963; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., was active in the Civil Rights 
Movement, traveling throughout the South, and was in 
Selma, Alabama, on October 7, 1963, for the voter reg-
istration drive known as Freedom Day; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., ran for an open seat in Michi-
gan’s 1st Congressional District, following the landmark 
1964 Baker v. Carr decision, and defeated his opponent 
with 84 percent of the vote; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., received the only known political 
endorsement of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 
and Rosa Parks, known for her prominent role in the 
Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, moved to Detroit and 
served on Conyers’ staff between 1965 and 1988; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., served 26 terms, winning re-elec-
tion 25 times, and is the third longest-serving member of 
the House in history, and the sixth longest-serving mem-
ber of Congress in history; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 May 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR386.IH
HR386
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 386 IH 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., is one of the 13 members who 
founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 and 
was considered the Dean of the Caucus during his ten-
ure; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., won a seat as a freshman on the 
influential Committee on the Judiciary and went on to 
serve as Chairman of that Committee from 2007 to 
2011, along with serving as the ranking Democratic 
member on the Committee from 1995 to 2007 and again 
from 2011 to 2017; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., during his tenure in Congress, 
vigorously and successfully worked to oppose initiatives 
that violated constitutional values and served as a beacon 
of hope to those facing poverty and injustice, pursuing 
legislative causes and oversight on issues that included 
police misconduct, access to affordable health care, 
LGBTQ protections, violence against the Arab and Mus-
lim-American communities, AIDS in the African-Amer-
ican community, environmental racism, and restorative 
justice; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., served as Vice President of the 
Detroit Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Execu-
tive Board Member of the NAACP, and Executive Board 
Member of the ACLU; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., over the course of his legislative 
career, was responsible for more than 100 bills, amend-
ments, and resolutions being enacted, including 57 on 
which he was the overall lead sponsor, and an additional 
56 that he managed or was the lead Democratic sponsor; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., led many notable legislative ef-
forts, including the Martin Luther King Holiday Act, re-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 May 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR386.IH
HR386
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 386 IH 
authorizations of the Voting Rights Act, reauthorizations 
of the Violence Against Women Act, the Hate Crimes 
Prevention Act, the Pattern and Practice Enforcement 
Act, the USA Freedom Act, the Alcoholic Beverage La-
beling Act, the Fair Sentencing Act, the National Voter 
Registration Act of 1993 (commonly known as the 
‘‘Motor Voter Act’’), and the Innocence Protection Act; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., paid particular attention to advo-
cating for the Detroit area, cooperating with other Mem-
bers to secure over $850 million in grants and appropria-
tion from 1993–2015, notably working to secure Federal 
funds to prevent closure of the Detroit Medical Center 
and the Detroit IRS office, along with successfully advo-
cating for the opening of a Detroit satellite location of 
the Patent and Trademark Office; 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., was found the most effective 
Democratic member of the House of Representatives in 
a 2013 joint study by the University of Virginia and 
Vanderbilt University; and 
Whereas John Conyers, Jr., is recognized as a champion of 
civil rights and civil liberties, receiving numerous honors, 
including the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the Leader-
ship Conference on Civil and Human Rights Hubert H. 
Humphrey Award: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors retired Representative John Con-
yers, Jr., on the occasion of his 90th birthday; and 
(2) extends congratulations and best wishes 
from the House of Representatives to Representative 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 May 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR386.IH
HR386
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 386 IH 
Conyers in celebration of a distinguished legislative 
career. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 May 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR386.IH
HR386
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS