Political Quotes

“I reserved the right to object, and I ask the respect of the manager to allow me to state my case. I thank the distinguished Senator. He graduated from Howard University in 1936, classmate of Thurgood Marshall and Appellate Judge Spotswood Robinson. He graduated from Howard Law School first in his class and then, with no real opportunities for African-American attorneys in the District of Columbia, served as chief research assistant to Ralph Bunche, who later won the Nobel Prize. From 1943 to 1947, he was in the Army and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel during World War II. He was a criminal defense attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney, the first African American ever to be an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Nation's Capital. I was privileged to be in the U.S. Attorney's Office during some of his tenure there and worked with him. He was a teacher to me and many others. He was appointed to the U.S. District Court in 1965. In 1977, he was appointed the first African American to be chief judge of the U.S. District Court. Now at the age of 94, Judge Bryant is serving as a Senior Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This man, like Rosa Parks, suffered from discriminatory practices and persevered, therefore breaking new ground for African-Americans to come. When he first began trying cases as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1951 the Bar Association of D.C. did not allow African-American members.…”