Augustus Hawkins, Retired Congressman, Dies at 100
NOVEMBER 14, 2007 TAGS:
Augustus Hawkins served 14 terms as U.S. Representative from South Central Los Angeles. When he first stepped into the Capitol Rotunda, he was one of only six Black Congressman, and the only from California. Through tireless work and advocacy, particularly for equal employment, Hawkins helped African Americans gain a foothold in the nation’s highest legislative chambers. He died on Saturday, November 10 at the age of 100.Elected first to the California State Assembly, Hawkins stepped into Congress in 1962, at a time of sweeping legislative change regarding race and discrimination. In the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Hawkins wrote most of Title VII, the section that detailed equal employment regardless of race and established the Equal Employment Commission.
Hawkins, who was born in Louisiana in 1907, had very light skin, such that he was often mistaken for a Caucasian. After the 1970 Congressional elections, Hawkins was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Employment and discrimination continued to be his legislative focus until the end of his tenure in the House. In 1988, he helped override a Presidential veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act and in 1990, helped steward the passing of a bill in response to a Supreme Court decision that shifted the burden of proof from employer to employee in alleged racial discrimination.
Hawkins retired from the House in 1991 and ran the Hawkins Family Memorial Foundation of Educational Research and Development, which gives college scholarships to high school students in Washington DC.
Read the New York Times Obit
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