Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 1908-1972

<p>An unapologetic activist, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., left his mark on Congress during his 12 terms in the House of Representatives. Viewed by his Harlem constituents as a dedicated crusader for civil rights, Powell earned the loyalty and respect of many African Americans with his confrontational approach to racial discrimination. Never one to shun the spotlight, the outspoken New York minister and politician—regarded as an irritant by many of his congressional colleagues—relished his position as a spokesperson for the advancement of African–American rights. Although Powell fought tirelessly on behalf of minorities, his legal problems and unpredictable behavior eventually undermined his influential but controversial political career. “Keep the faith, baby; spread it gently and walk together, children,” was a legendary slogan of the charismatic and flamboyant Representative.</p>

<p>Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 29, 1908. At the age of six months he moved to New York City with his older sister Blanche and his parents, Mattie Fletcher Schaffer and Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., a Baptist preacher. The family relocated to New York when Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., was assigned to serve as a minister at the century–old Abyssinian Baptist Church in midtown Manhattan. Under his leadership, the congregation grew into one of the largest in the United States. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., oversaw the move of the church and his family during the black migration to Harlem in the 1920s.</p>

<p>After graduating from Townsend Harris High School in New York (also attended by Powell’s future African–American House colleague Robert N. C. Nix of Pennsylvania), Powell enrolled in the City College of New York. In 1926 he transferred to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. As an undergraduate, he often circumvented the socially accepted racial barriers of the period because his light skin allowed him to pass as a white student. A year after graduating from Colgate in 1930, Powell earned an M.A. in religious education from Columbia University. Though his choice to enter the ministry pleased his father, his decision to marry Isabel Washington—a recently separated Catholic actress—in 1933 did not. Powell later adopted Washington’s son Preston from her previous marriage. After divorcing his first wife, the future Representative married two more times: Hazel Scott in 1945 and Yvette Flores in 1960. Both marriages ended in divorce, too, and Powell had one son with each wife; both sons were Powell’s namesake.</p>

POWELL, ADAM CLAYTON, JR., a Representative from New York; born in New Haven, Conn., November 29, 1908; attended the public schools of New York City; graduated from Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y., 1930; graduated from Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 1932; graduated from Shaw University, Raleigh, N.C., 1934; ordained minister; member of the New York, N.Y., city council, 1941; newspaper publisher and editor; journalist; instructor, Columbia University Extension School, 1932-1940; cofounder of the National Negro Congress; member of the New York state, Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration, 1942-1944; member of the Manhattan Civilian Defense 1942-1945; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth and to the ten succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1945-January 3, 1967); elected as a Democrat to the Ninetieth Congress, but was not sworn in and, pursuant to H.Res. 278, on March 1, 1967, was excluded from membership; elected as a Democrat to the Ninetieth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by his exclusion but was not sworn in; reelected to the Ninety-first Congress (January 3, 1969-January 3, 1971); unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the Ninety-second Congress in 1970; chairman, Committee on Education and Labor (Eighty-seventh through Eighty-ninth Congresses); died on April 4, 1972, in Miami, Fla.; cremated and ashes scattered over South Bimini in the Bahamas.

<p>Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (November 29, 1908 – April 4, 1972) was a Baptist pastor and an American politician, who represented the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 until 1971. He was the first African-American to be elected from New York to Congress.</p>

<p>Re-elected for nearly three decades, Powell became a powerful national politician of the Democratic Party, and served as a national spokesman on civil rights and social issues. He also urged United States presidents to support emerging nations in Africa and Asia as they gained independence after colonialism.</p>

<p>In 1961, after 16 years in the House, Powell became chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, the most powerful position held by an African American in Congress. As chairman, he supported the passage of important social and civil rights legislation under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Following allegations of corruption, in 1967 Powell was excluded from his seat by Democratic Representatives-elect of the 90th United States Congress, but he was re-elected and regained the seat in the 1969 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States in Powell v. McCormack. He lost his seat in 1970 to Charles Rangel and retired from electoral politics.</p>