To designate the United States courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the "R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse".

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 455, a bill to designate the United States courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse.

Mr. Speaker, Richard Jess Brown was born on September 12, 1912, in Coffeyville, Kansas. His parents, Ernestine and Joe Brown, were jazz musicians and performed in and managed a local theater.

Jess received a bachelor of science in industrial arts from Illinois State Normal University and a master of science in industrial education from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

After teaching at Alcorn State University, Jess moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he taught industrial arts at Lanier High School, the only Black high school in the city at that time. While teaching at Lanier, Jess became an intervening plaintiff in a lawsuit that sought equal pay for Black teachers in Jackson.

After teaching in Jackson, Jess attended Texas Southern University Law School. Jess left the law school before receiving his juris doctorate, but was able to return to Mississippi and pass the Mississippi bar in 1953.

Beginning his law career in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Jess confined his practice to cases involving divorces, deeds, land titles, and other practices that did not agitate White members of the bar. However, after the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling in 1954, Jess felt compelled to defend the civil rights of African Americans.

In the fall of 1955, the conditions and hardships endured by Black lawyers in the courts led Mr. Brown and seven other Black attorneys to establish the Magnolia Bar Association.

Mr. Speaker, R. Jess Brown is credited with filing the first civil suit on behalf of an African American in Mississippi, that lawsuit on behalf of a Jefferson County minister who challenged laws that prevented Blacks from voting.

Mr. Speaker, Jess Brown has an extensive record as a civil rights lawyer. His list of clients include:

Clyde Kennard, who was charged with and convicted of a fictitious crime while attempting to desegregate the University of Southern Mississippi;

James H. Meredith, whose litigation ultimately led to the integration of the University of Mississippi;

Dr. Gilbert Mason, who led the effort to end racial segregation on the beaches of Biloxi, Mississippi; and

Civil rights icons Medgar Wiley Evers and Dr. Aaron Henry.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Brown was admitted to practice law before all Mississippi court systems; the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi; the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi; the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; and the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Brown also served on the Executive Board of the National Bar Association for approximately 15 years.

Mr. Speaker, on December 31, 1989, R. Jess Brown died in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 77.

Mr. Speaker, R. Jess Brown is well-deserving of this honor, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 455.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 455. I want to commend my friend on the other side of the aisle for his eloquence and for his support of H.R. 455.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, R. Jess Brown is the type of individual who is an American success story. Just listening to the comments of my colleague, Congressman Thompson, about R. Jess Brown made me very proud of his accomplishments. He seemed to have been a Renaissance man with a southern twist. He seemed to be a gentleman and a scholar, yet someone who worked with his hands, also, and showed others how to do so.

That is why I rise in support of H.R. 455, a bill to designate the Federal courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse. I can't think of any better name for a courthouse in that locale other than the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse. Attorney R. Jess Brown was a towering champion during critical moments in the civil rights movement in the South, and especially in Mississippi.

Jess Brown received his law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University, which is my law school alma mater, and he practiced law in Mississippi throughout the sixties and seventies as one of the few attorneys willing to practice civil rights law. He made the metamorphosis from being a divorce lawyer into being a civil rights lawyer.

He was associate counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and he filed the first civil rights suit in Mississippi in the 1950s in Jefferson Davis County, seeking the enforcement of the right of Black citizens to become registered voters.

In 1961, R. Jess Brown represented James H. Meredith in his suit to be allowed to enter the University of Mississippi. His victory in this case opened the doors of that university to all Mississippi citizens.

While with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, he played a major role in fighting racial discrimination in the areas of transportation and other public accommodations.

During his lifetime, R. Jess Brown received numerous awards and honors, including the NAACP's Lawyer of the Year Award, the National Bar Association's C. Francis Stradford Award, and the Mississippi Teachers Association Award for extraordinary service to education in Mississippi. Other accomplishments are too numerous to mention but, unfortunately, are not as well known as they should be, and this is the least that we can do to honor the legacy of this important American.

I support this legislation honoring the life's work of R. Jess Brown, and I urge my colleagues to join me and pass H.R. 455.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 455) to designate the United States courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the ``R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 455.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 455 would designate the United States courthouse located at 501 East Court Street in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse.

Mr. Brown, a native of Oklahoma, attended Illinois State University, Indiana University, and the Texas Southern University law school.

In the 1960s, R. Jess Brown was one of only four African-American lawyers licensed to practice in Mississippi. In 1962, Mr. Brown took on his most famous case, where he worked on behalf of James Meredith, an African-American student who sought enrollment at the University of Mississippi. Mr. Brown's successful lawsuit broke the color barrier at the University of Mississippi and helped set the tone for future litigation in the civil rights movement.

Although the Meredith case may be his most famous trial, Mr. Brown already had established a history of litigating for civil rights stretching back to 1948, when he sued on behalf of Black teachers in Jackson, Mississippi, who sought salaries on par with their White colleagues.

R. Jess Brown helped to break down barriers and set historical precedent that has shaped our Nation for the better. It is only appropriate that we honor the work of Mr. Brown by naming this courthouse after him.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.