Scipio A. Jones Post Office Portrait

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from North Carolina. I thank him particularly for his help in shepherding this bill through the committee.

I am grateful, too, to our late, good friend Elijah Cummings for his support and the opportunity to thank him on the floor for his service in the House.

Also, I thank my good friend from Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence) for her support of this measure.

Mr. Speaker, in 1919, American doughboys returning from the European front and its brutality were committed to benefiting from the opportunity and liberty they secured at great risk and sacrifice to themselves. Many took that commitment to autonomy and freedom home to small towns and communities and homesteads where their families and livelihoods remained.

Just over 100 years ago, as September bled over into October in 1919, few eyes in this country were turned to a small agrarian community in northeast Arkansas. There, Black sharecroppers, spurred in part by the tales of opportunity and liberty spun by these returning brave veterans of the war to end all wars, dared to discuss fair pay for their crops.

To this day, an accurate account of the tragic loss of life that took place during the Elaine massacre, when White mobs killed more than 100 African Americans, remains widely unknown.

But one of the heroic stories that emerged from the ashes of the Elaine massacre was that of Scipio Africanus Jones, one of the great lawyers in Arkansas history. Jones' skillful legal defense saved the lives of 12 unfairly charged sharecroppers from the Elaine massacre who were originally sentenced to death by an Arkansas State court.

Jones' actions resulted in the landmark Supreme Court decision in Moore v. Dempsey, establishing that Federal courts could review criminal convictions in State courts under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that this legislation today that I have sponsored to honor his legacy, the Scipio A. Jones Post Office Portrait Act, is being considered on the House floor.

Today's measure is a simple one. It authorizes a portrait of Scipio Jones to be displayed at the U.S. Post Office in Little Rock, Arkansas, that bears his name. It has the support of the entire Arkansas delegation.

Scipio Jones' fight for civil rights and equality is an important part of Arkansas' history and something that we are deeply proud of in our State.

The Elaine massacre had a profound impact on the soul of our State that can be felt a century later. However, history always teaches us that we can learn from our past. We have an opportunity, today, with this legislation, to write a new chapter on Arkansas history that recognizes the legacy of the tragedy, honors the victims, and seeks to heal longstanding wounds. I am delighted to draft and sponsor this bill that helps accomplish that goal.

Our friend from North Carolina, the late Elijah Cummings, I am grateful for their help and the staff of the Committee on Oversight and Reform. I appreciate it for the quick markup, and I am grateful for the support.

Mr. Speaker, I urge this measure's passage.

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