The Little Rock Nine were high school students who in 1957 were allowed to attend Little Rock Central High School over the objections of then-Governor Orval Faubus, who had in fact dispatched the Arkansas National Guard to block them. They went to school only after intervention by President Dwight Eisenhower and under the protection of the U.S. Army. This incident was a focal point in post-Brown v. Board of Education desegregation and a national outrage. Representative Davis’s account is personal—he knew many of the individuals involved by name!  

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2 min, 48 sec 

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Representative Frank’s statement described for the record the range of emotions he felt as a high school senior observing this “extraordinarily important event in this country.” Speaking about that time as a peer to the Little Rock Nine, he explains the shame, admiration, frustration and anger he experienced during the sequence of events at the high school, which “ended happily, but not soon enough.”

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1 min, 57 sec

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Here, the former judge recounts a speech he attended by Dr. Martin Luther King in North Carolina. Relating to us his own experience with voting registration efforts at that time, Representative Butterfield goes on to explain that Dr. King had intended to lead a march in his hometown—but instead was called to Memphis for his fated trip. The representative also counts off public offices in his state held by African Americans as a direct success of the work of Dr. King.

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2 min, 24 sec

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A major figure in the civil rights movement who was himself beaten during the Selma marches long before coming to the Congress, Representative Lewis was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and in fact the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, taking the microphone after Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech. Describing Dr. King as “one of the founding fathers of the new America,” Representative Lewis calls on us to “rededicate ourselves to the struggle that was his struggle…that his dream has not been fulfilled.”

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2 min 26 sec

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In what some at the time called “the Brown v. Board of Education of athletics,” the Miners of West Texas won the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament with five African American starters, which was unheard of until the principled call of Coach Don Haskins. Representative Reyes, a helicopter crew chief in the Vietnam War and Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, was actually in school at UTEP—he had watched the talented players on the court!

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6 min 12 sec

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Representative Smith tells the story of William Wilberforce, elected while in his twenties to the British House of Commons in 1780. Unsatisfied with his political position, he had a religious conversion and committed himself to abolishing the slave trade. Newly inspired and tenacious, Wilberforce was unrelenting in his pursuit of passing a law which would end this offense “to God himself.” Smith uses the occasion to speak about modern human trafficking, an issue which he is involved with as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

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2 min 34 sec

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In 1944, Admiral Sam Gravely was the first African American officer on his ship in the Navy. He would go on to command a fighting ship and a major warship; his remarkable career later included promotions to flag rank, vice admiral, and finally commander of the 3^rd Fleet of the Navy. Trained and housed in segregated units and denied access to Officer’s Clubs, Admiral Gravely surpassed racial barriers on account of his seamanship, and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker reports that there is now a ship named after him.

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3 min, 41 sec

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Longtime Congressman Rangel of Harlem, Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, spoke in 2006 on a resolution recognizing the remarkable Tuskegee Airmen. Beating restrictive exams, 992 men would attend pilot training at the Tuskegee Institute for the newly formed 99^th Pursuit Squadron, going on to fly 6,000 missions, hundreds of medals, and yet not lose a single bomber! Representative Rangel talks about their inspiration for him and his own best friend who’d flown in the unit, later participating in the civil rights movement. Another member of the unit was the first pilot to shoot down a German fighter, later a university president. Living Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor on March 29, 2007 from then-President George Bush

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5 min, 33 sec

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Giving a more straightforwardly historical review with an emphasis on the impact on the war and the Army Air Corps of the Tuskegee Airmen, Representative Spratt, who is Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, explains that President Truman’s executive order integrating the armed forces influenced de-segregation throughout the country. According to Spratt, the accomplished pioneers had “fought and won battles that were not military in nature.”

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1 min 31 sec

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On the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Representative Jackson, a congressman from Chicago and son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, gave an excellent lecture on the House floor which both critically analyzed the actions and times of the “best American who ever lived” and gave a sincere tribute to our 16th president.

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59 min, 29 sec

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Beginning his lecture by speaking of his reverence for Lincoln as he attended a ceremony at Lincoln’s memorial on his own 200th birthday, Rep. Jackson recounts Lincoln generally, who sits in his “temple with a constant vigilance over our Republic.”

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3 min, 47 sec

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Did Lincoln free the slaves? According to Rep. Jackson, he did. Quoting the historian James McPherson, “Without the civil war, there would have been no Confiscation Act, no Emancipation Proclamation, no 13th amendment to the Constitution, not to mention a 14th and a 15th amendment, and almost certainly no end of slavery for several more decades, at least.” Moreover, fifteen presidents before Lincoln had failed to act as forcefully, despite some noted hesitancies and nuances on his part.

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14 min 23 sec

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What did Lincoln see? Rep. Jackson paints a picture of Lincoln as quite aware of his young nation’s history from Jamestown through the Constitutional Convention to the question of slavery in the territories. Ticking off a raft of historical events and issues including the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Missouri Compromise, the fugitive slave laws, Dred Scott and the plain political difficulties within the Congress over a period of decades, Rep. Jackson concludes that what Lincoln appreciated was the sense of national union as opposed to the primacy of states.

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24 min 30 sec

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What future did Lincoln attempt to guarantee for us? Rep. Jackson begins this segment by reading the “Gettysburg eulogy” in full. Clearly, the most notable part of the future that lay beyond Lincoln would come true in our own time—the Presidency of Barack Obama. Using July 4 as a reference over years to illustrate the point, Rep. Jackson parallels two different time periods and goes on to project what he thinks Americans “could have.” Finally, admittedly owing his “service in the Congress to the unsung heroes, to the men and women, the sheroes and the heroes,” Rep. Jackson thanks Lincoln, wishing him a moving Happy Birthday.

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15 min 13 sec

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