On the recordJuly 9, 2014
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, I rise to pay tribute to a few Hoosier leaders who played important roles in the passing of this landmark legislation. The story of the Civil Rights Act can be told through the leadership and vision of a long list of extraordinary Hoosiers, including many in the Indiana congressional delegation who supported the bill regardless of party. Yet to truly understand the Indiana leadership behind the Civil Rights Act, we need to start back home. During World War II, Rev. Andrew Brown vowed to dedicate himself to social justice while in a hospital bed after being told by a doctor that one of his legs would need to be amputated. Brown promised God that if his leg was saved, he would spend the rest of his life fighting for justice for all people. Later, recalling this moment during an interview, Brown said: That's the miracle in my life. That's the commitment that I made. . . . I'll keep fighting until I fall, because that's what I told God I would do. Brown did just that. He went on to fight for civil rights as a young pastor at St. John's Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis in the 1950s and 1960s. Brown organized African Americans to show voting strength in 1963. He was the founder of the Indiana Black Expo, started Operation Breadbasket--a radio show devoted to promoting economic and social justice--and served as the president of the Indiana chapter of the NAACP.…
