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 Clay-
ton 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 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 182 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 182 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 182 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