Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 270, the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site Expansion Act. I thank Senator Chris Coons for his leadership securing the Senate's unanimous support for passage of this important legislation earlier this month. I am proud to lead the legislation here in the House along with our bipartisan cosponsors, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Congressman Bob Good. As a former teacher of history and a student of history, I believe in the value of learning from our past. Many Americans don't know that the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, that desegregated public schools in 1954, combined legal challenges from four States and the District of Columbia. I represent one of those States and was fortunate to know some of the petitioners from Clarendon County, South Carolina, who challenged the separate but equal laws. Many of their photographs hang in my congressional office. In 2004, I wrote, in cooperation with the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, the book ``Uncommon Courage: The Story of Briggs v. Elliott, South Carolina's Unsung Civil Rights Battle.'' That same year, I was proud to lead the effort to present the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor to the leaders of that challenge--Harry and Eliza Briggs, Levi Pearson, and Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine. Their case, Briggs v.…”