Recognizing the Legacy of James Boggs

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride and respect that I recognize the legacy of James Boggs, a worker and activist, who played a pivotal role in labor organizing and the civil rights movement in the city of Detroit.

James Boggs was born in Alabama in 1919. He eventually moved to Detroit, where he became an auto worker. Active in his workers union, Mr. Boggs was passionate about the political issues facing workers and African Americans. His experiences and increasing interest in far-left philosophies inspired him to pen The American Revolution: Pages from a Negro Worker's Notebook, his most well-known work.

Mr. Boggs married Grace Lee in 1953. Their influence as a couple and individually had a tremendous impact on the organizing community, drawing influence from global history and observations of the everyday struggles of people. Together the Boggs's grassroots efforts to uplift voices of community members resulted in their founding of a summer leadership program. That legacy and program lives on in the James and Grace Lee Boggs School in Detroit.

I am proud to acknowledge and uplift Mr. Boggs's many achievements as we celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of his birthday.

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