Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the Reverend Curtis West Harris, for whom a post office in my district is being named next week following enactment of H.R. 3847 last year. He was an influential…
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the Reverend Curtis West Harris, for whom a post office in my district is being named next week following enactment of H.R. 3847 last year. He was an influential and well-respected member of our community, who fought for social justice all his life.
Reverend Harris was a trailblazer. Born in Dendron, Virginia, on July 1, 1924, Reverend Harris attended Virginia Union University in Richmond and then began work at Allied Chemical in Hopewell. During his time there, Reverend Harris served as a union shop steward and worked to promote diversity by advocating for the employment of African Americans in positions beyond janitors. When met with opposition, Reverend Harris sued Allied Chemical for violating regulations prohibiting discrimination.
Ordained as a Baptist minister in 1959, Reverend Harris continued his fight for social justice. In 1960, he was sentenced to sixty days in jail for staging a sit-in at a segregated drugstore in Hopewell. Reverend Harris was arrested over a dozen times for peaceful protest and civil disobedience.
Reverend Harris joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) national board and would eventually become the leader of the SCLC's Virginia Chapter for over thirty years. During his time with the SCLC, Reverend Harris became one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s top lieutenants, marching with Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. In 1966, Reverend Harris organized a march to fight plans for a landfill in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Hopewell, ultimately coming face to face with the Ku Klux Klan at the steps of the Hopewell City Hall.
In addition to his service with the SCLC, he served in leadership roles for the Hopewell Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, at the Virginia Council on Human Relations, and with numerous organizations.
Reverend Harris was highly respected within his community. He was active in local politics, serving as an elected member of the Hopewell City Council for over 25 years, and eventually as Hopewell's first Black mayor.
Throughout his time in public service, Reverend Harris fought tirelessly for civil rights and educational and environmental justice.
On December 10, 2017, Reverend Curtis Harris died at the age of 93. He was buried in Appomattox Cemetery, which he fought to integrate in 1960.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the life and accomplishments of Reverend Curtis West Harris and in celebrating the renaming of the post office in Hopewell in his honor.
