IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1349 
Recognizing Percy Sutton as one of the Nation’s most influential political, 
civil rights, and business leaders, who, through his brilliance, courage, 
and compassion, inspired countless people in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 11, 2010 
Mr. RANGEL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing Percy Sutton as one of the Nation’s most influ-
ential political, civil rights, and business leaders, who, 
through his brilliance, courage, and compassion, inspired 
countless people in the United States. 
Whereas Percy Sutton was born on November 24, 1920, the 
last of 15 children of Samuel Johnson Sutton, Sr., a 
former slave, and Lillian Viola Smith; 
Whereas despite their modest backgrounds, Percy Sutton and 
11 of his siblings who survived into adulthood all grad-
uated from college; 
Whereas Percy Sutton earned his first college degree, a Juris 
Doctorate, from Brooklyn College Law School in 1950 
while working two jobs to finance his tuition; 
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•HRES 1349 IH 
Whereas Percy Sutton served his country in World War II 
as an intelligence officer with the Tuskegee Airmen, who 
overcame prejudice and doubts about their skills and 
bravery to perform heroically as the first African-Ameri-
cans in the U.S. Army Air Corps; 
Whereas Percy Sutton was an accomplished civil rights attor-
ney, famously representing civil rights icon Malcolm X 
and his family, as well as hundreds of civil rights pro-
testers who were arrested in the South during the 1960s; 
Whereas Percy Sutton was elected to the New York State As-
sembly in 1964 and assumed the position of Manhattan 
Borough President in 1966, becoming the first African- 
American to do so, and went on to serve a record-setting 
10 years in the office; 
Whereas during Sutton’s three-term tenure, he was the high-
est ranking African-American elected official in New 
York City; 
Whereas Percy Sutton was a devoted member of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People and 
served as its New York chapter president for two terms; 
Whereas Percy Sutton was presented with the organization’s 
highly prized Spingarn Medal in 1987; 
Whereas Percy Sutton pioneered African-American media 
ownership as a founder of Inner City Broadcasting Cor-
poration in 1971, which over the years owned and oper-
ated 18 radio stations across the country and cable tele-
vision franchises in New York and Philadelphia; 
Whereas in 1981, under his leadership, Inner City presided 
over the $20,000,000 renovation of the Apollo Theater, 
restoring it as a vibrant center of entertainment, includ-
ing production of ‘‘Showtime at the Apollo’’, the popular 
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•HRES 1349 IH 
national talent competition that was televised for over 20 
years; 
Whereas Percy Sutton was selected in 1995 and 1996 to rep-
resent the United States as a business delegate to the 
Group of Seven (G7) Nations meeting on Telecommuni-
cations and High Technology in Brussels and the G7 De-
veloping Nations Intelligence Technology Conference in 
South Africa, respectively; and 
Whereas Percy Sutton died at the age of 89 on December 26, 
2009, in Manhattan, New York, survived by Leatrice 
Sutton, his wife of 67 years: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog-
nizes Percy Sutton, one of New York’s leading public fig-
ures, for his many years of service to the State of New 
York and the Nation as a defender of equal rights, justice, 
and economic opportunity for all people in the United 
States. 
Æ 
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