[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20984-20985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO SARAH MAE FLEMMING BROWN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2005

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and honor that I 
take this opportunity to pay tribute to the late Sarah Mae Flemming 
Brown for her valiant contributions to the cause of civil and human 
rights. Her place in history has not been fully recognized, but her 
determination to seek equity and fair treatment in our society deserves 
to be illuminated.
  Ms. Flemming is an unsung hero whose pioneering quest to end 
segregation and racial hatred isn't told in our classrooms the way that 
so many other triumphant sagas are recounted, and in fact she didn't 
even tell the story to her children. But I want to recount her heroic 
stand, so it can from this point forward be included in the 
Congressional Record.
  On June 22, 1954, the 20-year old maid boarded a bus in much the same 
manner that Rosa Parks later did. She took the only empty seat, one she 
believed began the rows in which black riders were allowed to sit. The 
driver challenged her, and humiliated, she signaled to get off at the 
next stop. The bus driver blocked her attempt to exit through the front 
of the bus and punched her in the stomach as he ordered her out the 
rear door. She wasn't trying to prove a point, and certainly there was 
no way of knowing how her apparently simple gesture of defiance would 
lead to monumental changes in our Nation's fundamental values.
  Civil rights activists in Columbia, SC, heard of Ms. Flemming's 
ordeal and through Ms. Mojeska Simpkins enlisted Attorney Phillip 
Wittenberg, a white attorney in Columbia to represent her. Flemming v. 
South Carolina Electric and Gas was filed on July 21, 1954 in U.S. 
District Court. The allegation was that Ms. Flemming's 14th amendment 
right to equal protection had been violated.
  On February 16, 1955, Federal District Judge George Bell Timmerman, 
Sr. dismissed the case. Ms. Flemming appealed to the Fourth Circuit 
Court of Appeals and her case was argued on June 21, 1955. The Fourth 
Circuit reversed Judge Timmerman on July 14,1955 and ``remanded the 
case for further proceedings.'' SCE&G appealed the decision of the 
Appeals Court. On April 23, 1956, the United States Supreme Court 
dismissed SCE&G's appeal, and on June 13, 1956, Judge Timmerman 
dismissed the case once again.
  Throughout this entire ordeal Ms. Flemming and Attorney Wittenberg 
endured intimidation and cross-burnings from the KKK. Things took their 
toll on Mr. Wittenberg and he decided not to handle a second appeal. 
Attorneys Matthew Perry and Lincoln Jenkins became the new lawyers of 
record for Ms. Flemming, and with their help and the help of NAACP 
lawyers the Fourth Circuit once again remanded the case to the trial 
court.
  While Ms. Flemming was fighting her battle in Columbia, SC, things 
began fermenting in other parts of the South. On December 1, 1955, a 
now famous seamstress, Rosa Parks, boarded a city bus in Montgomery, 
AL, in much the same fashion as Sarah Flemming did on June 22, 1954, 
some 18 months before. Few people are aware of Ms. Flemming's story. 
Timing and significant forces combined to keep her story from common 
knowledge.
  Judge George Bell Timmerman, Sr.'s son, George Bell Timmerman, Jr.--
an avowed segregationist--was elected Governor of South Carolina in 
November 1954, and conspired with the local newspaper, the State, to 
black out, or it might be more appropriate to say, white out civil 
rights activities taking place in South Carolina. Consequently, history 
records that the United States Supreme Court case involving Rosa Parks 
decided on November 13, 1956 desegregated public transportation, 
although the Court had made clear in its remand of Ms. Flemming's case 
five months earlier, what the law of the land was.
  Ms. Flemming went on to marry John Brown of Gaston County, N.C., and 
they had three children. She poured her heart and soul into Goodwill 
Baptist Church in Eastover, SC, and occasionally continued to work as a 
housekeeper. A heart attack brought on by diabetes took Mrs. Sarah Mae 
Flemming Brown just before her 60th birthday in 1993, a few months 
after I became the first African-American elected to this august body. 
Her death ended a

[[Page 20985]]

seemingly simple life that had an extraordinary impact on this country.
  The story of Ms. Flemming reminds us of the social progress that has 
been made in one generation and the progress that continues to be made 
as a testament to the vision and courage of such an advocate of 
American freedom and equality. Her legal team, that fought with her all 
the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, should also be commended for their 
insight and vision that would help lead to so many future legal 
triumphs toward ending government-imposed segregation. Ms. Flemming 
Brown's heroic actions should remind them and us that ``if a tree were 
to fall in a wood and nobody's there to hear it, does not mean it does 
not make a sound.''
  I invite my colleagues to join me today in thanking Sarah Flemming 
Brown for providing the precedent that led to the desegregation of 
public transportation in these United States. We should also appreciate 
the great loyalty she and her family and friends have kept to South 
Carolina. I am humbled to share her story today for all to appreciate.

                          ____________________