Political Quotes

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for so quickly sponsoring this resolution and bringing it to the House floor. I support House Resolution 1271, and this resolution honors the life and achievements of Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks for his commitment to justice and his work with the NAACP to eliminate barriers to civil rights and his leadership in promoting equal opportunity for everybody. He was born in Memphis in 1925. His family inspired him to study diligently in school and go to college, from which he graduated in 1944. After service in the United States Army, he went to law school at DePaul University. He graduated in 1948 and went back home to Memphis, Tennessee. From 1949 to 1965 he was one of a handful of African Americans practicing law in Memphis. In his law practice, Dr. Hooks was determined to combat segregation. Days before the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Dr. Hooks joined Thurgood Marshall and other attorneys at a roundtable to consider litigation strategies to challenge Jim Crow laws. Dr. Hooks was a pioneer in restaurant sit-ins and other boycotts sponsored by the NAACP. Throughout the 1960s he worked with the NAACP on several civil rights protests and marches throughout the United States. Throughout this time period, however, Dr. Hooks fulfilled a long desire and he entered the Christian ministry.…”