Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: Speech on Civil Rights (1955)
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’ Speech on Civil Rights was delivered on the floor of the House of Representatives on February 2, 1955. It was a day set aside by the House to commemorate the life of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, known for formulating New Deal programs in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s, for assembling a “black cabinet” of African Americans chosen to fill advisory roles with respect to public policy, and for leading the nation during World War II. Eight and a half months before Powell gave his speech, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were “inherently unequal.” The landmark ruling overturned rulings dating back to Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruling of 1896 that sanctioned racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal.” Being the leading advocate in Congress for civil rights legislation, Powell used the occasion to advance a specific proposal regarding equal...
