Adam Clayton POWELL, Jr., Congress, NY (1908-1972)

POWELL, Adam Clayton, Jr., a Representative from New York; born in New Haven, Conn., November 29, 1908; attended the public schools of New York City; graduated from Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y., 1930; graduated from Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 1932; graduated from Shaw University, Raleigh, N.C., 1934; ordained minister; member of the New York, N.Y., city council, 1941; newspaper publisher and editor; journalist; instructor, Columbia University Extension School, 1932-1940; cofounder of the National Negro Congress; member of the New York state, Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration, 1942-1944; member of the Manhattan Civilian Defense 1942-1945; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-ninth and to the eleven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1945-February 28, 1967); excluded from membership in the Ninetieth Congress pursuant to H.Res. 278, on February 28, 1967; chairman, Committee on Education and Labor (Eighty-seventh through Eighty-ninth Congresses); elected as a Democrat to the Ninetieth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by his exclusion but did not appear to be sworn in; reelected to the succeeding Congress (April 11, 1967-January 3, 1971); unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the Ninety-second Congress in 1970; died on April 4, 1972, in Miami, Fla.; cremated and ashes scattered over South Bimini in the Bahamas.

Bibliography

Hamilton, Charles V. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: The Political Biography of An American Dilemma. New York: Atheneum, 1991; Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr. Adam by Adam: The Autobiography of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.: With a Foreword by Adam Clayton Powell, III. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1994.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present