Remembering Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

It is my destinct honor to post this great lion for Civil Rights: Mr. Powell would have turned 100 yrs old on Saturday November 29. He was a voice that roar in the political world. I feel we should never forget the sacrifices this great man and so many of our warriors that layed the work. “He was the blueprint for what all black elected officials should be: he was bold and passionate.”
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was best known in his role as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. He was a leading figure in passage of the backbone of the much of the social legislation of the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies.
He helped steer the passage of the minimum wage bill, the Manpower Development and Training Act, the antipoverty bill, and bills providing federal money for student loans and for public libraries.

Of course, the congressman had his troubles, and they made headlines throughout the country. He was criticized with increasing frequency for mismanagement of his committee’s finances and traveling at public expense. He spent a good deal of time outside the district and faced a series of troubles for his refusal to pay a judgment that resulted from a slander suit.
In 1970, he was defeated in the Democratic primary by an assemblyman named Charles B. Rangel, who has represented northern Manhattan in Congress ever since.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/remembering-adam-clayton-powell-jr/