Major r owens biography

The CCE used its influence in taking on a number of issues during the following three decades. When Congressman Owens took his seat in the U. He remained on both panels throughout his House career. In , Owens became Chair of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Select Education and Civil Rights — a position he held until the Republicans won control of the House in and abolished the subcommittee.

Owens became a significant advocate for education during his 12 terms in the House. By the th Congress — , Representative Owens was the third—ranking Democrat on the Education and the Workforce and the Government Reform committees. From my perspective, the Democratic—controlled House has been extremely negligent in this area. It has shown little, if any, urgency about the plight of the unemployed.

Owens focused on a cause near to his heart: pursuing more Federal money for education and libraries, which dovetailed with the needs of his urban district. From his post as Chair of the Subcommittee on Select Education and Civil Rights, Owens focused on restoring Federal funding for library services, institutions of higher learning, and programs to alleviate the high school dropout crisis in the Black community.

Owens was also successful in modifying the formula used to calculate Title I funds available to elementary and middle schools. For years, Brooklyn -- with the largest population of needy students -- had been receiving the lowest per capita allocation of Title I funds. When the Cold War ended in the early s, Owens advocated that money being shifted from military to domestic programs should be appropriated for American inner cities.

Owens criticized budgets presented during the administrations of Republican Presidents Ronald W. Reagan and George H. Bush, asserting that they neglected the pressing need of minorities. On the House Floor in , he belted out some lines from a rap song he wrote:. At the big white DC mansion. And the question on the table is. Owens was also critical of President Bill Clinton's administration after the concept of "Opportunity To Learn" standards was essentially removed from important education legislation.

OTL would have mandated that states ensure that all schools receive comparable resources to address their educational needs -- including capital improvements. Among the ADA's provisions were the first guidelines prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in businesses and public spaces and the establishment of standards for accessibility to public buildings.

The measure also contained provisions to promote development programs for preschool children and to introduce new technologies to assist students with disabilities, which Owens had championed earlier. The ADA endures as one of America's significant -- though underappreciated -- pieces of civil rights legislation. Millions of children and adults from every class, race and ethnicity benefit from the ADA every day.

Representative Owens was the lead sponsor of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act, providing for major reforms to the long—established Volunteers in Service to America VISTA program, which assigns volunteers to community—based aid agencies to combat urban and rural poverty. Additionally, he was a key backer of the Child Abuse Prevention Challenge Grants Reauthorization Act of , which renewed a measure first passed in In addition to defininght "child abuse" and "neglect", the bill provided states federal funding to assess, investigate, and prosecute cases of child abuse; conduct research; and compile data.

In the early s, Owens helped reauthorize legislation that encouraged states to offer people with disabilities jobs through rehabilitation centers and homes where they could live independently. Congressman Owens also prepared the annual Alter-Budget, used to provide a progressive alternative to the regular budget proposals — particularly during the presidential administrations of George W.

Bush and George H. In conjunction with the other Congressional Black Caucus members, Congressman Owens worked relentlessly and successfully to achieve the designation of the Martin Luther King Federal Holiday and the imposition of sanctions against the racist South African regime. One of the highlights of his career was attending the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of the new South Africa.

Another highlight was the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Advertisement Congressman Owens took pride in the fact that during his time he had sponsored and passed more legislation than any other African-American member of Congress since Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Owens also directly sponsored and successfully managed the passage of legislation on child abuse prevention, television decoding for the hearing impaired, assistance to abandoned infants, assistance to children with disabilities including special education, child adoption amendments and domestic violence prevention.

Congressman Owens was a force behind the successful passage of legislation on plant closing notification, extended employment benefits, child care expansion and the very important increase in the minimum wage. Owens made political waves by endorsing Rev. Locally, Congressman Owens joined with other elected officials to form the Coalition for Community Empowerment in Brooklyn.

The CCE became involved with neighborhood and citywide campaigns with significant — sometimes historic — consequences for the future of New York City. Congressman Owens also founded the Central Brooklyn Martin Luther King Commission, a not-for-profit organization committed to educating youth about the legacy of Dr. Although having moved from his career in librarianship into his political career, in and , Owens was a featured speaker at the White House Conference on Libraries sponsored by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.

In , he was elected to the U. House of Representatives , replacing the retiring Shirley Chisholm , where he remained until his retirement in Owens became known as "The Librarian In Congress. In Congress, he worked closely with American Disability activist Justin Whitlock Dart who often was visiting his office in Capitol Hill and provided testimony before Owen's Subcommittee on Select Education in the House, during the late s and early s, prior to the passage of the ADA when it was being heatedly debated.

His district included low income areas of Brownsville , a large Hasidic area of Crown Heights , the heavily Caribbean areas of Flatbush and East Flatbush , and the now upscale neighborhood of Park Slope. Although Owens won the Democratic primary with just In , Owens decided to retire at the end of his term January In the election , Yvette Clarke , who had run against Owens in the primary, won the election and became Owens successor.

Owens was one of 31 House Democrats who voted to not count the 20 electoral votes from Ohio in the United States presidential election. Bush won Ohio by , votes. House of Representatives, with each state having one vote in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

In , Owens decided to not pursue re-election and retired from Congress, thereby ending his political career. Owens indicated that he wanted to spend his time writing novels and poetry. In after Owens's retirement decision, the Librarian of Congress announced that Owens would be appointed as a distinguished visiting scholar at the John W. Kluge Center with the position to commence in January During his time at the John W.

Kluge Center, Owens's work focused "on a case study of the Congressional Black Caucus and its impact on national politics. Owens was married twice. His first marriage to Ethel Werfel ended in divorce after twenty-five years. He then married Maria A. Cuprill Maria Owens , and the couple had two children. Owens died October 21, in New York City of congestive heart failure.

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Major r owens biography

Download as PDF Printable version. House of Representatives from He represented the 11th Congressional District of New York. While in Congress, Owens introduced legislation which would have required that only professional librarians be appointed to serve as the Librarian of Congress, however the legislation never became law. In addition, Mr.

Wilkinson and the Law Library of Congress. Library of Congress, n. Celebrating African American Librarians.