Remembering Dr. King and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

by Dr. John E. Warren Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, a day those of us who are old enough will never forget. But April 4th is significant for another reason, because on April 4, 1972, the Rev. Dr. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Congressman from New York, died in a Florida hospital. His death, although not related to Dr. King’s, occurred exactly four years, four months, and four days after the death of Dr. King. Both men represent great losses to humanity and to African Americans in particular.& We know of Dr. King’s achievements and sacrifices but so much of Adam Clayton Powell’s record, which has gone unnoticed. Powell is the member of Congress that President Lyndon Baines Johnson went to in order to pass the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act and the War on Poverty under the Economic Opportunity Act. He is responsible for the Arts and Humanities Endowment Act, Elementary and Secondary Education, Higher Education Act, the Title VI Public Accommodations provision of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.& In all he authored more than 60 major pieces of legislation in his six years as Chairman of...