October 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 161 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE LEGACY OF DR. ROSA SLADE GRAGG

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RASHIDA TLAIB

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 11, 2019

  Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the memory 
of Dr. Rosa Slade Gragg, a woman who represented and championed the 
civil rights of Black women of the City of Detroit.
  Dr. Rosa Slade Gragg worked as an English teacher before she became 
involved with civil rights advocacy. She quickly became an outstanding 
advocate for the advancement of Black women's rights. She was 
eventually appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to serve on the 
Board of the National Volunteer's Participation Committee of Civil 
Defense. Dr. Gragg also worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as 
an active and vocal champion of the civil rights movement. In addition 
to her advocacy, Dr. Gragg founded the Slade-Gragg Academy of Practical 
Arts in 1947, the first Black vocational school in Detroit. More than 
two thousand women and returning veterans were trained at the academy, 
the first Black owned and operated business on Woodward Avenue in 
Detroit. Over the years, Dr. Gragg accumulated a number of honors and 
recognition for her work to advance civil rights and served as an 
advisor to three United States Presidents.
  We owe a debt of gratitude for the hard work and dedication of Dr. 
Rosa Slade Gragg. It is with great honor that I ask my colleagues to 
join with me in honor of her memory and upon the dedication of a street 
named to acknowledge her civil rights activism.

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