Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Bennett College, which I have the privilege of representing in Congress. In 1873, Bennett got its start as a school for elementary and secondary students in the basement of Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church. Now, Bennett College, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, stands as one of only two all-women's HBCUs in the Nation. In the 150 years since its founding, Bennett College and its alumni have made history. Bennett played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement in North Carolina. Before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his famous March on Washington speech, he traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina, in February 1958. There, he was met with an overflowing crowd of young women, the Bennett Belles, at the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel on Bennett's campus. This speech, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s first speech ever given in Greensboro, had a lasting impact on the entire Triad community. Mr. Speaker, 2 years after his speech on Bennett's campus, Bennett Belles participated in the famous Woolworth counter sit-in, the demonstration that ignited a movement of sit-ins for racial equality across the South and across the country and changed the entire course of American history. In the years since then, Bennett's alumni have continued to make history. Bennett had the first Black woman president of a 4-year college in the United States, Dr. Willa B. Player.…”