Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Politician & Civil Rights Activist

November 29, 1908 New Haven, Connecticut, United States

April 4, 1972 Miami, Florida, United States

Hazel Scott, Yvette Flores

Adam Clayton Powell Junior was a well-known pastor, a civil rights activist and a renowned politician of the 20th century United States. He was the first African American Congressman to be elected from New York. During his long political career, he spoke out on different issues affecting the black population and raised many matters that would otherwise have been ignored in the white majority house. He relentlessly fought against bigotry faced by the African Americans and made sure they get fair employment opportunity. He also worked hard for abolition of ‘voting tax’ imposed by the southern states for keeping out the black population from the poll process and spoke out against lynching, which was an accepted practice even in 1960s. In another level, he challenged Congressman Ranking for using the word ‘nigger’ and took his black constituents to dine in the House restaurant, which was unofficially out of bounds for them. However, his role was not only limited to the black activism. As the Chairman of Education and Labor Committee he helped to pass many bills that affected people of every community. He was equally enthusiastic about global politics and urged the US government to help the developing nations.