June 26, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 108 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING ALYCE GRIFFIN CLARKE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 2019

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
remarkable public servant from the Backwoods of Deovelente (a few miles 
northeast of Belzoni), to the Mississippi State Capital--Alyce Griffin 
Clarke, 1st African American female elected to the Mississippi House of 
Representatives in 1985.
  In the backwoods of Deovelente, in the last house near the Yazoo 
River, a beautiful baby girl was born to the late Mr. Henry Griffin and 
Mrs. Fannie Alice Merriweather Griffin. They named this beautiful 
precious baby girl, Alyce Myrtle Griffin.
  This young lady walked the dusty roads of Deovelente to Deovelente 
Elementary School, to Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, where she was 
baptized, to Mt. Arratt Methodist Church, and to the one store in the 
community. As a matter of fact, she walked everywhere she went. The 
family did not own a car as they were sharecroppers. She chopped and 
picked cotton as so many of us did. She still boasts about being able 
to pick 300 pounds before quitting time and teasing others still in the 
field.
  As the years passed, Ms. Griffin graduated from McNair High School, 
Belzoni, Mississippi in 1957. She went on to graduate from Alcorn 
College and other universities. She later became Mrs. Alyce Griffin 
Clarke when she married the late Mr. L.W. Clarke. They became the proud 
parents of one son, Demarquis Clarke.
  In 1985, Mrs. Alyce Griffin Clarke became the first African American 
female elected to the Mississippi Legislature.
  Currently, Representative Alyce Griffin Clarke is still active in the 
same post where she first made history, and we are all very proud of 
her accomplishments.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing 
Representative Alyce Griffin Clarke.

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