MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Representatives Banks, Bozeman, Clarke, Coleman (29th), Coleman (65th), Dickson, Evans, Flaggs, Fredericks, Green (96th), Green (72nd), Morris, Perkins, Robinson (63rd), Thomas, Thornton, Wallace, Watson

House Concurrent Resolution 83

(As Adopted by House and Senate)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING MR. JAMES FARMER FOR RECEIVING THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM. 

WHEREAS, Mr. James Farmer, a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on January 15, 1998; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Farmer pioneered the use of nonviolent protest to demand racially segregated America to live up to its claim of liberty and justice for all; and

WHEREAS, in 1947, Mr. Farmer helped organize mixed-race trips to check compliance with a new Supreme Court decision declaring separate seating on interstate buses unconstitutional; and

WHEREAS, when four black college students began their historic sit-in at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, volunteers from the Congress of Racial Equality, which Mr. Farmer cofounded in 1942, helped keep the sit-in alive; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Farmer has spent 35 years in the shadows, his name eclipsed by other civil rights leaders; and

WHEREAS, despite his physical challenges, Mr. Farmer continues teaching at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Mississippi finds it most appropriate to pay special tribute to such an outstanding man as Mr. James Farmer for his dedication and leadership in the fight for equal rights for all:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend and congratulate Mr. James Farmer for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, a recognition that is well-deserved by this remarkable leader.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Mr. James Farmer and the Capitol Press Corps.