Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note that there are many persons in the history of the African American community who have broken down important racial barriers, and that one of the most important of these was Harold Baron Jackson--better known as Hal Jackson--who helped to break down such barriers as a popular cross-over New York City radio broadcaster for over 50 years. He remained an active broadcaster on WBLS FM Radio until just a few weeks before his passing. He died last Wednesday at age 96.

Mr. Jackson's easy manner and multiple interests in music didn't make it any easier for him to break into the radio business in the 1930s-- before the 1954 Brown decision when Jim Crow de jure legal segregation was still the law of the land, while hangings of Blacks in the South were still a major concern in Black life and de facto segregation ruled the North.

The New York Times pointed out in its obituary, ``At a time when segregation was widespread, he was a familiar voice to black and white listeners alike. At one point in the 1950s, he was hosting three shows--one rhythm-and-blues, one jazz and one pop--on three different New York radio stations.

He was also a significant player, along with Percy Sutton, in the establishment of the African American wholly-owned Inner City Broadcasting Corporation in 1970 where he established an urban contemporary format rooted in African American music but which also appealed to a racially mixed audience. While getting his start in broadcasting in Washington, DC, he moved to New York in 1954 and helped to establish WBLS as the highest rated radio station in New York City. Mr. Jackson dominated the airwaves, eventually expanding his reach across the country.

In 1990 he became the first African American inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Mr. Speaker, and in 1995 was among the first five inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Hal Jackson's birth, as was true of many southern Blacks then, was not officially recorded but it's believed that he was born on November 3, 1915 in Charleston, SC. He was one of five children. His father, Eugene Baron Jackson, was a tailor, and his mother was the former Laura Rivers. Both of his parents died when he was a child, so he was raised by ``relatives in Charleston and New York before settling in Washington, where he graduated from Dunbar High School and attended classes at Howard University.'' (New York Times)

Mr. Jackson was also an avid sports fan who broadcast Howard University football and Negro league baseball games and organized an all-black basketball team known as the Washington Bears. He also raised money for civil rights causes, established Hal Jackson's Talented Teens International and was one of the first advocates of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. And, as they say, the rest is history.

He was married four times and divorced three. His current wife, the former Debi Bolling, survives him, along with two daughters, Jane and Jewell; his son, Hall Jackson, Jr., a former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, everyone is familiar with the saying that behind every good man is a good woman. I rise today to note that there is probably no person who exemplifies that homily more than Barbara Kydd Graves--the wife of Black Enterprise Magazine's founder, chairman, and publisher Earl G. Graves, Sr.--who died this week and will be laid to rest on Saturday, June 2.

Mrs. Graves was not only a good wife and the family matriarch, but she was also a major guiding light of Black Enterprise with her quiet strength, inspiration, and caring personality.

Mrs. Graves died at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC after a three-year battle with gall bladder cancer at the age of 75.

As Black Enterprise itself acknowledges, ``she played a vital role in the growth and development of the publication and media company, and its mission of economic empowerment and wealth building for African Americans.''

``Since the launching of the Black Enterprise Magazine in 1970, Barbara Graves, an alumna of Brooklyn College and a former elementary school teacher, held every major position, including editorial director, circulation director and chief financial officer, during the 40 plus-year history of this company. Along the way, she is credited with grooming and developing several generations of executive leadership, including sons Earl Jr., Johnny and Michael, all of whom have worked as executives at Black Enterprise. Mrs. Graves also co- founded and guided the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit, the premier networking event and conference for women executives of color.''

Her son, Earl Graves, Jr., president and CEO of Black Enterprise, testified to how special his mother was: ``My mother was a steadfast and loving partner and counselor to my father; his quiet source of strength and inspiration. She served as mentor and guide to several generations of employees, managers and professionals. Above all, she genuinely cared for every member of the Black Enterprise family, and held a special passion for children and young people in particular.''

Mrs. Graves' funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., to be preceded by a public viewing from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., on Saturday, June 2, at Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, NY.

Mr. Speaker, the African Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Hamel Hartford Brookins--widely known as Bishop H.H. Brookins--went to be with his heavenly father on Tuesday, May 22. He died in Los Angeles at the age of 86.

I first became acquainted with Bishop H.H. Brookins as the Board Chairman of my father's organization, Operation PUSH. He was a great preacher with a commitment to civil rights and economic and political justice on a national and international scale. He served in a variety of AME church districts in the U.S. and Africa throughout his distinguished religious career, and was known as an activist, a visionary and a great church leader committed to justice for all. He was an early supporter and played an important role in mobilizing the religious community in my father's two presidential campaigns.

In 2002 former President Bill Clinton joined a host of religious luminaries, elected officials and celebrities in a tribute to Bishop Brookins, the son of Mississippi sharecroppers who rose to become a Los Angeles and international champion of black political empowerment. The former President praised Brookins for his civil rights legacy and reminisced about the days when the clergyman ministered in a country church in Arkansas while he was the Governor.

Bishop Brookins became active politically in the 1950s when, as a clergyman in Topeka, Kansas he helped to implement the 1954 Brown desegregation decision and plan ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1965 he worked to quell the Watts riots. He was an architect of Tom Bradley's campaigns for Los Angeles mayor and, while working in Africa, was ousted from Rhodesia because of his work on behalf of the Zimbabwe liberation movement. In 1981 Zimbabwe invited him back for its first presidential inauguration.

Bishop Brookins was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio's Wilberforce University and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Payne Seminary. Prior to his election as a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Brookins served as the pastor of the First AME Church of Los Angeles, California leading the congregation through the building of a multi-million dollar cathedral at its present location on Harvard Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Bishop Brookins is survived by his wife, the Rev. Rosalynn Kyle Brookins, pastor of the Walker Temple AME Church in Los Angeles and their son, Wellington Hartford Brookins and two stepchildren, Steven Hartford Brookins and the Rev. Francine A. Brookins. His family and numerous friends were at his bedside when he died.