Avoice Remembers Early CBC Efforts for National Recognition

CBC Members with Nelson Mandela

It took over a year of requests and even a boycott of the State of the Union Address before the newly-formed CBC secured a meeting with President Nixon at the White House in 1971. At the meeting the CBC presented Nixon with 60 recommendations for governmental action ranging from increasing enforcement of civil rights to withdrawal from Vietnam.

On May 18, 1971, Rep. Charles C. Diggs, Jr., then chairman of the Caucus, received Nixon's response in the form of a letter and 115-page report. Generated by a special White House task force, the report found in the recommendations some common goals, some differences in funding ideas, and some issues of disagreement. It included few suggestions on how to move forward and resulted in no significant actions by the administration. In a press conference held by the CBC in response to this report, Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-CA) called the President's response "less than adequate."

Though the outcome of this first meeting of the Caucus with the executive branch was disappointing, Nixon’s response to the CBC's early efforts did not cause the Caucus to lose momentum. Instead' the meeting was seen as the Caucus' first national recognition and the inadequate response only served to strengthen CBC members' efforts to work together in Congress.

To read more about the struggles and triumphs of the CBC's early years, visit the Avoice Origin of the CBC Exhibit

Now Showing – Avoice Seminar on the Enactment of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Bill

On January 14, 2008 Avoice and the Division of U.S. Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center joined together to commemorate the 40th anniversary year of Rev. King's assassination and the 25th anniversary year of the passage of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Bill with a seminar addressing the social and legislative history of the bill as well as the continuing significance of Dr. King's life today. Speakers included Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Dr. Elsie L. Scott, President and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Denise Rolark Barnes, Publisher of The Washington Informer, and Moses Boyd, Senior Counselor with the Washington Group and former Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center.

To watch the C-SPAN broadcast of the event click here

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Avoice Photo and Document Galleries Now Work with Zotero!

Conducting research on Avoice and need to organize your sources? The Congressional Black Caucus’ Virtual Library photo and document galleries now work with Zotero! A free, easy-to-use extension to the Firefox web browser, Zotero is a research tool that lets you gather, organize, and analyze sources (citations, full texts, web pages, images, and other objects), as well as letting you share the results of your research in a variety of ways. Just download Zotero at www.zotero.org, visit the Avoice photo and document galleries, and then look for the page symbol in your address bar. With one click store the reference information for any Avoice photo or document so it will be easy to site later.

To download Zotero click here

 

More Avoice Exhibits:

additional information and links.

Untitled Document
Origins of the CBC

Trace the history of the CBC with an in-depth look at exactly how, when and why the Caucus was initially formed.

Voting Rights Act

Learn how the CBC has spent years fighting tirelessly to protect the voting rights of underrepresented people

MLK, Jr. Holiday Bill

Look back at how the CBC led the charge for the creation of a federal holiday honoring the civil rights hero.

Anti-Apartheid Movement

Read about the significant role CBC members played in the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa.