Oct. 28, 2019

Groundbreaking for Expanded African American Civil War Museum Prepares Historic DC Corridor for National and International Visitors

By Hazel Trice Edney

Principals and visionaries of the expanded African American Civil War Memorial symbolically dig in the shovels. Pictured are Sarosh Olpadwada, economic developer; James Turner ANC, Dr. Frank Smith, museum director and founder; Mayor Muriel Bowser; Councilperson Brianne Nadeau; Grant Epstein, project developer; Torti Gallas, developer tenant; Patrick Smith, economic developer; and neighbors Maya Hendricks 11 and Mason Hendricks 6. PHOTO: Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

Dr. Frank Smith presents D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser with the first replica of a statue of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
The giant statue will sit outside of the renovated and expanded museum facing the memorial to Black Union Soldiers across the street. PHOTO: Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

Dr. Frank Smith opens the ceremony for the expansion of the museum that he founded more than 20 years ago. PHOTO: Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - In the 400th year since the first enslaved Africans reached the shores of America, a groundbreaking in the nation’s Capital has begun a monumental $45 million expansion of a facility to honor Black veterans of the Civil War - slaves and descendants of slaves - who literally fought their way to freedom.

“You all know that we started this African American Civil War Museum for two purposes – one was to correct a great wrong in history, which pretty much ignored the contributions of African-American soldiers ending slavery and keeping America united under one flag,” Dr. Frank Smith, executive director and founder of the African American Civil War Museum, told a packed house in D.C.’s historic Shaw neighborhood Oct. 17.

Smith continued the brief history lesson before the rapt audience: “When the Civil War started, African-Americans had no pathway to citizenship in the United States. We were defined in the Constitution as being chattel slaves. And every court decision from that point up to the Civil War reinforced our position and our status in society. We don’t get a chance to fight for our freedom until Lincoln gets himself caught up in a war that he can’t win without doing something about slavery. And so he ended up enlisting two hundred thousand Blacks in the Union Army. The nation paid no attention to these soldiers until we built a monument to them.”

Just across the street from the museum, which is housed in the historic Grimke School building on Vermont Avenue North West, is a bronze memorial, a statue of three soldiers standing guard. The statue is surrounded by a wall with the carvings of 209,145 names of those who served among the United States Colored Troops.

That museum and memorial – fixtures in the U Street community for the past 21 years - are about to undergo a $45 million expansion project that will accomplish the second purpose for which the museum was built. In addition to providing greater space for artifacts and programs to honor the Black soldiers, it is expected to create an economic boom in the once depressed area as people come from across the nation to visit the historic spot.

“We wanted to find a way to get tourism into this community. We get 20 million tourists in the city every year,” said Smith, a former Ward 1 councilman, who envisioned and founded the museum in 1992. “They spend $6 - $10 billion dollars every year Downtown. So it’s pretty easy if we can find a way to get them here and spend some of that money up here in this neighborhood,” he said.

D. C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and her staff, helping with the ground breaking, led the way to the new beginning for the project after several pauses due to stormy political waters and budget problems over the years. The grand opening is finally set to take place in the fall of 2020.

“Our former Ward 1 councilmember is making sure that we not only grow as a city, but that we grow together as a city and that we preserve the rich history that we’ve been blessed with. And this Memorial is certainly a testament and a commitment to how we do that for our city and for our nation. So, Frank, you deserve tremendous applause and appreciation from all of us,” Mayor Bowser said.

Among the plans for the development:

• The African American Civil War Museum will move out of its current building into a second much larger building next door.
• The 133,000 square foot project will include 12,000 feet for the world headquarters of architectural giant Torti Gallas, which will set up office with more than 100 employees and partners in the building that the museum is vacating. Torti Gallas also is the architectural firm behind the entire project.
• There will be approximately 70 housing units with 20 percent of them at “below market” price, according to Bowser, who said affordable housing in the area had been among her chief concerns as she established a long-term vision projecting 50-100 years.
• The new influx of Torti Gallas employees, construction workers, and other retail employees into the neighborhood; plus the tourist draw to the newly renovated museum and new neighborhood residents are expected to bring the economic boom. Among those applauding in the audience was Virginia Ali, co-founder of the historic Ben’s Chili Bowl restaurant right down the street.
• Adding to the historicity of the project, Dr. Smith said a statue of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation will be erected in front of the museum, looking across the street at the monument. “It’ll be the only one in the nation’s capital,” he said, awarding the first heavy replica of the statue to Mayor Bowser.

John Torti, president of Torti Gallas, said he not only looks forward to redesigning and renovating the two buildings, but he has dreamed of being a resident of such a neighborhood.

“For me, personally, I’ve always wanted to have an office in the city. I’ve always wanted to walk to work,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to have a space that represents the kind of redevelopment and rebuilding and transformation that our firm represents. I’ve always wanted to come to work in a building that people like Frank Smith work in. In 50 years of being an architect, my dream has come true with Grimke.”

As with any new development, amidst all the pleasantries and congratulations, there are yet controversy and questions.

Dr. Smith forthrightly addressed the issue of gentrification as well as how crime in the Shaw neighborhood had to be dealt with as the neighborhood has gradually changed over the years.

“When I first started working up here, I, as a councilmember, people were scared to walk around up here,” he said. He said nearby Howard University “started busing the kids back and forth to the dormitories. They were scared to let them walk around in the street. People need to have a place to live where they can walk through the community; where they can go to school. So, I’m not apologetic about that. We have to fight to make our communities better. We all want to live in better communities. We just have to fight to stay there. That’s the only way we’re going to progress in America.”

Responding to Smith, current Ward I Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, having worked on the project for 15 years, described, in part, how the gentrification issue will be dealt with.

“Dr. Smith talked about a phenomenon of gentrification here in this neighborhood. And one of the things that we have to keep doing in areas that are becoming gentrified is ensure that we solidify the history and the memories of things that were here and build things that acknowledge the African-American community,” Nadeau said. “This is critical because there are people who’ve lived here in this corridor their whole lives who don’t recognize it anymore and don’t think the things that are being built are for them. But this is being built for them. This is being built for all of them. For those who’ve been here a long time, for those who will come and need to understand the history. And I want us to be together in that moment and to understand the gravity of that. And just really appreciate it and congratulate each other because everybody in this room played a part in getting this.”

PHOTOS TO COME

 

October 28, 2019

Democrats, Republicans, Presidents and Paupers Remembered Elijah Cummings
By Hamil R. Harris

Maya Rockeymoore-Cummings speaks in remembrance of her husband Elijah Cummings at New Psalmist Baptist Church where they worshipped in West Baltimore.

President Barack Obama is applauded by the audience as Cummings widow, Maya Rockeymoore-Cummings tells of how proud the Congressman was to be his friend and supporter.

President Barack Obama speaks at the funeral of Congressman Cummings, held at New Psalmist Baptist Church in West Baltimore. President and Secretary Clinton also attended.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - He was a member of the United States Congress who was a hero on the streets of Baltimore. He was son of sharecroppers who became a political father of two Presidents. He once chaired the Congressional Black Caucus but at his death Republicans on Capitol Hill expressed deep regret for losing a dear friend.

And so it was appropriate for President’s Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and a large chorus of political leaders to come to West Baltimore Friday to cry, to pray and to celebrate the life of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) whose career of service extended far from the residents of the 7th Congressional District and his memory will last much longer than his 68 years of life.

“Elijah Cummings came from good soil. Goodness took root. His father worked in a plant. His mother cleaned rooms,” President Barack Obama told more than 4,000 people who attended Cummings funeral capped three days of tributes that began at, extended to the United States Capitol and concluded at New Psalmist Baptist Church in West Baltimore.

At a time when the media is consumed with allegations of wrongdoing and the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump, the three days of tribute for Cummings, was a welcomed reminder of a time past when hard work and dignity was a hall mark for leadership.

The tributes began early Thursday as members of the Morgan State University Army ROTC brought Cummings blue casket into the Carl F. Murphy Fine Arts Center on the campus. The public and students got the chance to view Cummings all day until 5 pm when the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, and the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Gamma Boule honored him that was followed by more than 27 elected leaders that ranged from Baltimore Mayor Jack Young to Maryland two United States Senators.

“It was quite sad that we got to meet him for a second time under these circumstances,” said Brittany Johnson, a senior Multi-Media Journalism Major. “Many of us who witnessed his speech during our 2019 graduation are extra lucky and blessed to be in his presence one last time.”

The Prince Hall masons were posted on each side of Cummings casket all day and throughout the tribute at Morgan most of the tributes were so very personal and included high school friends, community leaders, city and state officials and Maryland’s lawmakers in Congress,

“We have lost a giant in out country,” said retired US Senator Barbara Mikulski who was among 27 Maryland leaders to honor Cummings Thursday night. Senator Ben Cardin called Cummings, “a champion of social justice,” and Senator Chris Van Hollen, “We thank God for the gift that was the journey of Elijah Cummings.”

Maryland State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who is stepping down from his post because he is being treated for prostrate cancer, stood in front of the stage instead of coming to the podium. He simply said, “thank you for being my friend.”

The audience stood to their feet in response to reflections from Maya Rockeymoore-Cummings, the widow of the Congressman. 

"I want you all to know that it was not easy," she said. "What Congressman Chairman Cummings did was not easy. And while he carried himself with grace and dignity in all public forums, it hurt him because one thing you do not know about Congressman Cummings, he was a man of soul and spirit. He felt very deeply. He was very impathetic. It was one of his greatest gifts. And it was one of his sources to be a public servant and a man of the people."

Congressman Elijah E. Cummings was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where he resided until his death. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Howard University, serving as Student Government President and graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He later graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law. Congressman Cummings also received 13 honorary doctoral degrees from universities throughout the nation.

One of the most touching tributes was from of his best friends Larry Gibson who Cummings called his mentor because they attended high school together, Baltimore City College. Former Mayor Stephany Rawlings Blake, Maryland Mosby and dozens of speakers talked about Cummings did so much for their careers.

Congressman Cummings began his career of public service in the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served for 14 years and became the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tempore. From 1996 until 2019, he Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where his voting record reflected his deep allegiance to the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The Congressman often said that his vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 was the most important he ever cast. In 2014, he fought to include prostate cancer in the Compassionate Allowances listing allowing the Social Security Administration to cover medications, medical procedures, and provide financial support for men who can no longer work and provide a living for themselves and their families. Over one million men have benefitted from this policy.

While Cummings is well known for chairing the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, he also fought President Trump on many fronts especially protecting immigrant children which sparked President Trumps attacks on him and Baltimore.

Ironically, Cummings was one of the first Congressional Black Caucus members to meet Trump in the White House after he was elected to talk about lowering prescription drugs. One of his final acts as Chairman was to sign subpoenas for documents related to the Administration’s policy to deport critically ill children.

On Thursday, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, paused to receive the flag draped casket that was brought up the west front of the US. Capitol by a military honor guard. Vice President Pence, Senate President Mitch McConnell and

other top Republican lawmakers gathered in Statuary Hall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to the fallen Congressman as “Our Dear Elijah.”

Cummings becomes the first African American lawmaker to lie in state at the US Capitol. While many members of Congress spoke the biggest message was never spoken. It was the sight of an endless line citizens from across the country who came to Capitol Hill to silently paid their respects.

On Friday Bishop Walter Scott Thomas Sr. welcome a line of people into New Psalmist that formed at 4:30 AM. The church organist played the great songs of the church punctuated by the music of Bee Bee Winans and the words of many powerful speakers.

Whether it was from two Presidents, a former Secretary of State, his family, church members or even his pastor, the dominant theme was that Elijah Cummings was indeed a prophet who loved and cared for people and they were grateful.

As they waited for a commuter train at Baltimore’s Penn Station, Art and Diana Cohen, said they felt lucky to get into the church after waiting in line for a few hours. The Baltimore lawyer and community leader said, “Elijah Cummings brought many, many people together.”

Oct. 28, 2019

 

 

 

Members of Congress Bid Farewell to a Giant

By Jane Kennedy

 

The Honorable Elijah Cummings lying in state. He is the first Black elected official ever granted this honor. (Photo Screen Shot)

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - How do you bid farewell to a giant? That was the Herculean task congressional lawmakers faced on October 24, when they gathered in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall to honor Congressman Elijah Cummings, who had died exactly a week ago at age 68. He represented Maryland’s 7th district for 23 years and at his death was the chairman of the powerful Oversight and Reform.

It was a send-off fit for a president, and indeed, the Maryland lawmaker’s casket was placed atop the same catafalque that held Abraham Lincoln’s casket in 1865. Cummings is the third African-American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol and the first Black elected official. The other African-Americans were Civil rights leader Rosa Parks and U.S. Capitol Police Officer Jacob Chestnut Jr., killed in the line of duty in 1998. Cummings had battled health issues for more than two years, but his passing still came as a shock to many.

Throughout the celebration of life ceremony, Democrats and Republicans alike eulogized him as a mentor, “a quiet giant,” and most important, their friend.

Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained minister, began the ceremony with a prayer. "Our hearts are made heavy by the transition of our colleague, our family member, our loved one, the Mahogany Marylander, Elijah Cummings, as he has moved into the realm of the unseen,” he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Baltimore native, applauded Cummings for the voracious battles he fought on behalf of America’s children and children separated from their families at the border. She also applauded his eagerness to have as many freshman lawmakers as possible on the Oversight committee to help them realize their potential and allow them to lend fresh perspectives on issues vital to the nation’s future. “Elijah was truly a master of the House. He respected its history and in it he helped shape America’s future,” Pelosi said. “I have called him our North Star: our guide to a better future for our children.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, like many Republican lawmakers, put partisanship aside for the day and praised Cummings for devoting his life to ensuring that young people got the same kind of care and opportunities that enabled him to build a bright future.

"He knew there was only one reason why a son of sharecroppers, a child who had literally had to bear the injuries of bigotry and segregation, could graduate from law school and eventually chair a powerful committee in Congress," McConnell said. "Only one reason, because principled leaders had fought to give kids like him a chance. Chairman Cummings made it his life's work to continue that effort. He climbed the ranks here in the Capitol, not because he outgrew his hometown but because he was so committed to it."

Many of the speakers talked about the distance Cummings traveled from his extremely humble beginnings and the many humbling experiences along the way that helped define and lead him to become one of the most powerful and beloved members of Congress. At age 11, when he and a group of others tried to integrate a local public swimming pool, they were attacked by whites. While being driven from the scene in a police cruiser, Cummings, who had wrongly been placed for a while in a special education class, vowed to become an attorney.

“A sharecroppers’ son, born and raised in Baltimore, Elijah Cummings never forgot where he came from and never lost sight of where he wanted his country to go,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “That's why, no matter your politics, if you knew Elijah, you went to him for guidance. I often did. I will miss those conversations dearly. I pray for his family, for the city of Baltimore, and I pray for our nation when people like Elijah Cummings are no longer with us. Those gathered here today have lost a dear friend, and our country has lost a giant.”

“He did not set out to be a giant,” said Rep. Karen Bass, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, “but he became one. He took on the mantle of evangelists. He didn’t work to prepare people for the hereafter. He worked to prepare people for the here and now. When Congressman Cummings spoke, he spoke with moral authority, frequently reminding us that ‘We are better than that’.” The California lawmaker added that Cummings’s CBC family will honor him “by continuing to stand and defend our democracy with the very same passion, vigor and determination you exemplified for us.”

South Carolina representative and House majority whip James Clyburn recalled how he and Cummings often shared with each other their experiences growing up as “PKs” or preacher’s kids and how they chose different paths than their fathers. Quoting the biblical passage, “The Lord requires us to do justly, act mercifully and walk humbly,” Clyburn said that Cummings “personified this directive in his service and in the core of his living. Elijah had a passion for justice: justice for those who are underserved; justice for those who are undercut; and justice for those who are underestimated.”

Earlier in the week, the Congressional Black Caucus held a special hour on the House floor during which several CBC members.

“This great man, this brother, spent 36 years in public service to his people, his home State, and to our country. He was a leader who loved this nation, all of its people, and fought until his very last breath for those who had been left out and left behind. He dedicated every single moment of his life to strengthening and preserving our Union,” said the civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.  “He spent every waking moment thinking of those who were hurting and suffering. He focused all of his energy into this Congress and the people we represent. Mr. Speaker, it was an honor to know and to love him. It was an honor to serve with him. It was a great honor to consider him my brother and my friend.”

 Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, stressed the need to follow Cummings’s example. “We all have at least one Elijah Cummings story. Some of us have a lot more. But more importantly, it is how Elijah lived that we have to pay tribute to,” he said. “Elijah demonstrated every day not only that he loved the people of Baltimore, but he loved this great country. If we can just pattern our lives after Elijah Cummings’ past, we will be fine.” 

Following the ceremony, congressional staffers and members of the public lined up for hours to view Cummings’s flag-draped coffin at the entrance to the House chamber.

Oct. 27, 2019

Former Congressman John Conyers Has Died at 90
By Frederick H. Lowe

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - John Conyers, Jr. the longest serving African American member of Congress and co-founder in 1969 of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Sunday in Detroit. He was 90 years old. The cause of death has not been revealed.

Mr. Conyers served 53 years in Congress and was once fondly known as the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus which he helped found in 1971. He was the sixth longest serving member of Congress before he resigned in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations. During his tenure, he represented the 1st, 14th and 13th Congressional Districts in Detroit and the suburbs.

A graduate of Wayne State University and Wayne State University School of Law, voters elected Conyers to Congress in 1964. He took the oath of office in 1965 during the Civil Rights struggle. He befriended Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he hired Rosa Parks to work in his Detroit congressional office when no one else would give her a job.

Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the great civil rights victories, when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a White man. Her refusal sparked the more than one year long Montgomery Bus Boycott that ended segregated seating on the city’s buses.
Conyers introduced the 1965 Voting Rights Act under President Lyndon Johnson, and he succeeded in establishing a national holiday honoring the birthday of Dr. King.

Conyers was chair of the House Judiciary Committee from 2007-11. And he led the powerful House Oversight Committee as its chair from 1989 to 2004.

As the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, he joined other committee members in 1974 submitting Articles of Impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon. However, Nixon resigned from office before he could be impeached.

Conyers was also chair House Oversight Committee from 1989 to 2004. The late Elijah Cummings held the same position when he died.
In addition, Conyers introduced in every Congress starting in 1989, legislation that would set up a commission to examine the institution of slavery in the nation and its colonies. The legislation recommended appropriate remedies.

He also pushed for a single-payer or government-directed health care system.

Conyers was the son of John Conyers, Sr., a labor lawyer. He was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on May 16, 1929. He served in the Korean War.
He is survived by his widow and two sons.

Tributes from civil rights and Democratic leaders had begun to pour out this week.

“From co-founding the Congressional Black Caucus, to advocating for the creation of Martin Luther King Day, some of the most important civil rights victories of the last half-century would not have been possible without the enduring leadership of Rep. Conyers in Washington,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP. “As a Detroit native, I can attest to what John Conyers meant to his beloved Detroit community, and we are eternally grateful that he fought for justice on behalf of the entire nation with the same commitment and perseverance he showed his beloved hometown. Today we have lost a trailblazer for justice, a titan of the movement, and a true friend and ally to the NAACP.”

NAACP Board Chairman Leon W. Russell said, “I am moved by the dedication of John Conyers’ to the fight for social good and his fearless pursuit to tear down barriers of injustice and racism. He will forever be remembered as a giant that gave his life to advance democracy.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said, “Congressman John Conyers was a civil rights warrior, a lifelong public servant, and a stalwart Democrat. Over the course of his public service career, which spanned more than half a century, Rep. Conyers led groundbreaking fights that advanced the course of history, including introducing the first bill to establish the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. As a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, he changed the face of leadership in the halls of Congress and blazed a trail for future leaders of color."

The Trice Edney News Wire contributed to this article.