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OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AFFAIRS TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE ALABAMA 36088 (205) 727-8335
I am going to do a sequel to the address you may have heard me give at the Democratic National Convention. It is a sequel because you will find that ultimately I start to deal in a specific way with the national com- munity. That'll come later; just hang in there.
George White: that is a name in which you may or may not be familiar. In 1901, he gave a most unusual speech. He was the last of 22 Black Americans to sit in the United States House of Representatives. He was from the South. He was one of those 22 who entered the Con- gress of the United States in the Reconstruction Era. He gave in this speech a farewell and a prophesy. He said, in part: "This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negro's tem- porary farewell to the American Congress. But let me say," he continued, "'Phoenix-like' we will rise some day and come again." 1901 -- we're still trying to get up. Today, there are 17 Black Americans in the United States House of Representatives; one in the Senate. Have we gotten up enough? Have we risen enough? The coming general election in November of this year is an opportun- ity for us to answer. Have we gotten up enough? Have we risen enough? Have we fully demonstrated the power of the black vote? We think we have, but the statistics be- lie this belief. In 1972, only 55% of Black Americans bothered to vote in that general election year. 1974, 30% of Black Americans in the South bothered to vote in congressional elections and another 30% who had regis- tered did not vote at all. You've read in the past several days of a national survey of voter participation. You read a conclusion that there are 70 million people who say that they are not going to vote this November (70 million are not going to bother). What is more disturbing even than that big
Draft of convocation speech delivered by Barbara Jordan to students at the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama regarding African-American involvement in politics. The document is annotated with handwritten notes.
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