House Resolution 41 - Introduced HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 41 BY ABDUL-SAMAD , KOESTER , LANDON , BROWN-POWERS , McCONKEY , BEARINGER , STUTSMAN , HUNTER , ANDERSON , STAED , STECKMAN , GASKILL , GAINES , MEYER , and SIECK A Resolution marking more than 50 years of this 1 country’s struggle for civil rights and honoring the 2 achievements of the civil rights movement. 3 WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court struck 4 down the “separate but equal” doctrine that provided 5 the basis for state-sanctioned discrimination through 6 its 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of 7 Topeka, drawing attention to the plight of African 8 Americans; and 9 WHEREAS, a turbulent decade followed that saw 10 civil rights activists promote the use of nonviolent 11 protest and civil disobedience to bring about change 12 and produced many African-American leaders, including 13 Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, 14 some of whom sacrificed their lives in the name of 15 freedom and equality; and 16 WHEREAS, the Southern Christian Leadership 17 Conference organized a march on March 7, 1965, from 18 Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery 19 that quickly ended when police attacked the protesters 20 with tear gas and clubs and inspired hundreds of civil 21 rights supporters to gather in Selma after hearing 22 accounts of the “Bloody Sunday” attack; and 23 WHEREAS, the federal government produced landmark 24 legislation with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 25 Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 26 -1- LSB 2666HH (3) 86 tr/nh 1/ 2

H.R. 41 1968, among others; and 1 WHEREAS, the judicial and legislative changes 2 that occurred throughout the 1950s and 1960s greatly 3 expanded the opportunities available not only to 4 African Americans, but also to other minorities, 5 women, disabled individuals, and other victims of 6 discrimination; NOW THEREFORE, 7 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That 8 the House of Representatives remembers the struggle 9 of all who worked, and continue to work, to achieve 10 equality and freedom for everyone and the achievements 11 of the civil rights movement. 12 -2- LSB 2666HH (3) 86 tr/nh 2/ 2