IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 113 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States Postal Service 
should issue a postage stamp commemorating Congressman Adam Clay-
ton Powell, Jr. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2005 
Mr. RANGEL submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Government Reform 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States 
Postal Service should issue a postage stamp commemo-
rating 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 sec-
tion of New York City known as Harlem, where his fa-
ther 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 de-
gree from Colgate University in 1930 and began his cru-
sade for civil rights by leading a protest against Harlem
•HCON 113 IH 
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 Clay-
ton 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 ed-
iting a weekly newspaper called ‘‘The People’s Voice’’; 
Whereas in 1942 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., became a mem-
ber of both the New York State Office of Price Adminis-
tration 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 Edu-
cation and Labor beginning in 1947, and the Committee 
on Interior and Insular Affairs from 1955 to 1961; 
Whereas Congressman Powell challenged the informal regula-
tions 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 Representa-
tives;
•HCON 113 IH 
Whereas Congressman Powell introduced several bills to out-
law lynching, poll taxes, and discrimination in the armed 
services, housing, employment, and transportation; 
Whereas Congressman Powell attempted to attach an amend-
ment that would have denied Federal funding to institu-
tions 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, gar-
nering enough votes from African-Americans to ensure 
Kennedy’s narrow victory in 1960; 
Whereas Congressman Powell became the first African-Amer-
ican 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, med-
icaid, 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 Amend-
ment’’; 
Whereas Congressman Powell came under attack from long- 
time 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
•HCON 113 IH 
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 renomi-
nation 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 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) the United States Postal Service should 
issue a postage stamp commemorating Congressman 
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.; and 
(2) the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee 
should recommend to the Postmaster General that 
such a stamp be issued. 
Æ