Commending Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, for their lives and accomplishments.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS)Legislative Activity
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Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
June 18, 2003
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Introduced in House
June 12, 2003
Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform.
June 12, 2003
Mr. Carter moved to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution.
June 16, 2003 • 3:11 PM
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H5371-5378)
June 16, 2003 • 3:12 PM
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H. Con. Res. 220.
June 16, 2003 • 3:12 PM
At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause 8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on the motion would be postponed.
June 16, 2003 • 3:51 PM
Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H5381)
June 16, 2003 • 6:51 PM
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 376 - 0 (Roll no. 277).(text: CR H5371-5372)
June 16, 2003 • 6:59 PM
On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 376 - 0 (Roll no. 277). (text: CR H5371-5372)
June 16, 2003 • 6:59 PM
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
June 16, 2003 • 6:59 PM
Received in the Senate.
June 17, 2003
Voting History
1 vote recorded • Roll call available
Floor Debate
16 membersWhat members said about H.Con.Res. 220 on the floor
+11
Floor Debate
16 membersWhat members said about H.Con.Res. 220 on the floor
Mr. Speaker, due to family reasons, I was unable to vote on rollcall No. 227: H. Res. 159. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.'' Mr. Speaker, due to family reasons, I was unable vote on…
Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield? Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Pickering), my colleague, for this opportunity. I would like to pay tribute also to the gentleman from…
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for his remarks, and I am pleased to join with him as we consider H. Con. Res. 220, a bill…
I very much thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I thank the chairman for bringing this bill forward; and, of course, I thank my good colleague, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr.…
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor two of the Nation's most outstanding civil rights leaders, Medgar Evers and Mrylie Evers- Williams, on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Medger Evers.…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with my congressional colleagues to honor the enduring legacy of Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams for their lives of service and commitment to racial…
Mr. Speaker, I come before the House as a proud cosponsor of this resolution to commend Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers. I had the great privilege of coming from Arlington Cemetery…
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 220) commending Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, for their lives and…
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 220 that honors the lives and accomplishments of civil rights leaders Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrile Evers-Williams. I want to…
Mr. Speaker, the names Medgar and Myrlie Evers have been well known to me as a Mississippian since me youth. And there is no mistaking that the Mississippi of my youth was far different from today.…
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 220, a resolution commending the life and accomplishments of Medgar Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams. History sometimes overlooks great…
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 220, introduced by the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Pickering.) The resolution…
Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to applaud Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) for introducing H. Con. Res. 220, a resolution to honor Medgar Evers and his wife Myrlie Evers-Williams for their…
Show 4 more
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to offer my thoughts on H. Con. Res. 220, a resolution commending Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, for their lives and…
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 220 and to pay tribute to the life and works of Medgar Wiley Evers. Medgar Evers was a true pioneer in the fight for racial justice in…
Mr. Speaker, I regret that I missed rollcall vote Nos. 276, 277 and 278 on the evening of June 16, 2003. I was traveling in between my District (TX-08) and Washington. My flight was delayed almost 2…
Mr. Speaker, Unfortunately, I missed the votes in the House of Representatives on June 16, 2003. Had I been in attendance I would have made the following votes: H.R. 2254, the Bruce Woodbury Post…
Bill Text
2 versions available
[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 220 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 220
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 17, 2003
Received
June 18, 2003
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Commending Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, for
their lives and accomplishments.
Whereas a pioneer in the fight for racial justice, Medgar Wiley Evers, was born
July 2, 1925, in Decatur, Mississippi, to James and Jessie Evers;
Whereas, to faithfully serve his country, Medgar Evers left high school to join
the Army when World War II began and, after coming home to Mississippi,
he completed high school, enrolled in Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical
College, presently known as Alcorn State University, and majored in
business administration;
Whereas, as a student at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, Evers was a
member of the debate team, the college choir, and the football and track
teams, was the editor of the campus newspaper and the yearbook, and held
several student offices, which gained him recognition in Who's Who in
American Colleges;
Whereas, while a junior at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, Evers met
a freshman named Myrlie Beasley, whom he married on December 24, 1951,
and with whom he spent the remainder of his life;
Whereas, after Medgar Evers received a bachelor of arts degree, he moved to
historic Mound Bayou, Mississippi, became employed by Magnolia Mutual
Life Insurance Company, and soon began establishing local chapters of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (referred
to in this resolution as the ``NAACP'') throughout the Delta region;
Whereas, moved by the plight of African-Americans in Mississippi and a desire to
change the conditions facing them, in 1954, after the United States
Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional, Medgar Evers
became the first known African-American person to apply for admission to
the University of Mississippi Law School, but was denied that admission;
Whereas, as a result of that denial, Medgar Evers contacted the NAACP to take
legal action;
Whereas, in 1954, Medgar Evers was offered a position as the Mississippi Field
Secretary for the NAACP, and he accepted the position, making Myrlie
Evers his secretary;
Whereas, with his wife by his side, Medgar Evers began a movement to register
people to vote in Mississippi and, as a result of his activities, he
received numerous threats;
Whereas, in spite of the threats, Medgar Evers persisted, with dedication and
courage, to organize rallies, build the NAACP's membership, and travel
around the country with Myrlie Evers to educate the public;
Whereas Medgar Evers' passion for quality education for all children led him to
file suit against the Jackson, Mississippi public schools, which gained
him national media coverage;
Whereas Medgar Evers organized students from Tougaloo and Campbell Colleges,
coordinated and led protest marches, organized boycotts of Jackson
businesses and sit-ins, and challenged segregated bus seating, and for
these heroic efforts, he was arrested, beaten, and jailed;
Whereas the violence against Medgar Evers came to a climax on June 12, 1963,
when he was shot and killed in front of his home;
Whereas, after the fingerprints of an outspoken segregationist were recovered
from the scene of the shooting, and 2 juries deadlocked without a
conviction in the shooting case, Myrlie Evers and her 3 children moved
to Claremont, California, where she enrolled in Pomona College and
earned her bachelor's degree in sociology in 1968;
Whereas, after Medgar Evers' death, Myrlie Evers began to create her own legacy
and emerged as a national catalyst for justice and equality by becoming
active in politics, becoming a founder of the National Women's Political
Caucus, running for Congress in California's 24th congressional
district, serving as Commissioner of Public Works for Los Angeles, using
her writing skills to serve as a correspondent for Ladies Home Journal
and to cover the Paris Peace Talks, and rising to prominence as Director
of Consumer Affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Company;
Whereas Myrlie Evers became Myrlie Evers-Williams when she married Walter
Williams in 1976;
Whereas, in the 1990's, Evers-Williams convinced Mississippi prosecutors to
reopen Medgar Evers' murder case, and the reopening of the case led to
the conviction and life imprisonment of Medgar Evers' killer;
Whereas Evers-Williams became the first female to chair the 64-member Board of
Directors of the NAACP, to provide guidance to an organization that was
dear to Medgar Evers' heart;
Whereas Evers-Williams has published her memoirs, entitled ``Watch Me Fly: What
I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be'', to
enlighten the world about the struggles that plagued her life as the
wife of an activist and empowered her to become a community leader;
Whereas Evers-Williams is widely known as a motivational lecturer and continues
to speak out against discrimination and injustice;
Whereas her latest endeavor has brought her home to Mississippi to make two
remarkable contributions, through the establishment of the Evers
Collection and the Medgar Evers Institute, which advance the knowledge
and cause of social injustice and which encompass the many lessons in
the life's work of Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams;
Whereas Evers-Williams has presented the extraordinary papers in that Collection
and Institute to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History,
where the papers are being preserved and catalogued; and
Whereas it is the policy of Congress to recognize and pay tribute to the lives
and accomplishments of extraordinary Mississippians such as Medgar Evers
and Myrlie Evers-Williams, whose life sacrifices have contributed to the
betterment of the lives of the citizens of Mississippi as well as the
United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That--
(1) Congress commends Medgar Wiley Evers and his widow,
Myrlie Evers-Williams, and expresses the greatest respect and
gratitude of Congress, for their lives and accomplishments;
(2) Congress supports the establishment of a ``Medgar Evers
National Week of Remembrance''; and
(3) copies of this resolution shall be furnished to the
family of Medgar Wiley Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams.
Passed the House of Representatives June 16, 2003.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.