Acclaimed Avoice virtual library presents reflections and perspectives from
several surviving founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus
WASHINGTON The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) announced today that its acclaimed virtual library Avoice: African American Voices in Congress has launched video interviews of several of the surviving founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Now available at the Web site, www.avoiceonline.org, are interviews of Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, as well as former Reps. William Clay of Missouri and Louis Stokes of Ohio, and Walter Fauntroy, the former delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia. The Web site also has new video tributes to the two other surviving CBC founders, former Rep. Ronald Dellums, now mayor of Oakland, Calif., and former Rep. Augustus Hawkins of California, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday.
These men and six other black lawmakers founded the CBC in 1971. Conducted this summer, these personal conversations capture the members’ memories on everything from their first days in Congress and struggles to create the caucus to the many milestones reached by its members.
“The Avoice interviews of these great leaders provide perspective not found in any textbook or congressional record,” said Elsie L. Scott, Ph.D., CBCF’s president and chief executive officer. “Hearing history told by those who made it gives the public a personal view of what each individual member brought to the CBC and how they have worked together to accomplish so much.”