Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great lion, a leader, one of the golden throated warriors of the spoken word and one of the few silver tongued giants of oratory, and a great civil rights icon, Benjamin Hooks. He passed away in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Dr. Hooks was the fifth child out of seven born to Robert and Bessie Hooks. His grandmother, Julia B. Hooks was the second African-American female college graduate in the nation after graduating from Berea College in Kentucky in 1874. Following in her footsteps, Dr. Hooks attended LeMoyne College in Memphis where he studied pre-law. He continued his studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and at DePaul University Law School in Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. After graduating from college, Dr. Hooks served in the Army during World War II and had the job of guarding Italian prisoners who were able to eat in restaurants that were off limits to him. He found this experience to be humiliating and it deepened his determination to do something about bigotry in the South. Dr. Hooks returned to Memphis after being discharged at the end of the war with the rank of staff sergeant. Dr. Hooks began practicing law in 1949 becoming one of the few African-Americans to practice in Memphis.…”