Blessed Experiences

Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black

James E. Clyburn

• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781611173376
• eBook ISBN:
  9781611173383
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

"Shares lessons learned on his way from the Jim Crow South to a top spot on Capitol Hill . . . [a] remarkably candid new memoir" — NPR
From his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina, to his prominence on the Washington, D.C., political scene as the third highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, US Congressman James E. Clyburn has led an extraordinary life. In Blessed Experiences, Clyburn tells in his own inspirational words how an African American boy from the Jim Crow-era South was able to beat the odds to achieve great success and become, as President Barack Obama describes him, "one of a handful of people who, when they speak, the entire Congress listens."
Born in 1940 to a civic-minded beautician and a fundamentalist minister, Clyburn began his ascent to leadership at the age of twelve, when he was elected president of his National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) youth chapter. He broke barriers through peaceful protests and steadfast beliefs in equality and justice. As a civil rights leader at South Carolina State College, as human affairs commissioner under John C. West and three subsequent governors, and as South Carolina's first African American congressman since 1897, Clyburn has established a long and impressive record of public leadership and advocacy for human rights, education, historic preservation, and economic development.
Includes a foreword from Emmy Award–winning actress and the congressman's longtime friend Alfre Woodard
" Blessed Experiences has captured not just the history of this tireless leader's more-than-four decades in public service, but also a sense of the times." —Warren Buffett

INDEX

Page references given in italics indicate illustrations or material contained in their captions.

“ABC” (Anybody But Clyburn) document, 188–89, 190

Adams, John Hurst, 149

Aderand II, 259

Affirmative Action, xiv, 125, 164–68, 209, 259–60

Affordable Care Act: bicameral White House meetings regarding, 297–300

Blair House Summit (2010), 302

Clyburn’s personal reasons for supporting, 296–97, 331–32

“Cornhusker Compromise,” 298–99

cost of, vs. conservative initiatives, 331

equity issue in, 298–99

Obama’s campaign promises regarding, 296, 297

Obama’s promotion of, 303

reconciliation process, 304

repeal efforts, 332, 334

right-wing opposition to, 327

as 21st-century Civil Rights Act, 332

Afghanistan War, 330–31

AFL-CIO, 112

African Americans: bowling alleys, 99–100

challenges facing, 249–50, 333–34

Clinton supported by, 236

colleges, 106–7

disenfranchisement of, 150

factions among, 325

fraternity memberships of, 89, 229

as gubernatorial staff members, 126–27

health problems affecting, 273, 334

IAAM, 269–70

infrastructure improvements benefitting, 270–74

political affiliation of, 245–46

political influence of, 113–14, 115, 116, 117, 118

voting rights of, 22, 110

West supported by, 325

agricultural subsidies, 310

Airline Owners Association, 258

airplanes, smoking ban on, 257

Alabama, 230–31

Confederate flag lowered at capitol of, 150

Alabama Democratic Party, 276

Alabama State University, 49

Allen, Willie Mae Clyburn (cousin), 303–4

Allendale Alive Enterprise Community, 230

Allendale County (S.C.), 332

Allen University (Columbia, S.C.), 180, 261, 333

Allston, Allard,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chronology
• One Blessed by Experiences
• Two A Blessed Beginning
• Three Finding My Way
• Four The Charleston Shuffle
• Five Making History
• Six A Racial Arbiter
• Seven Coming to Grips with Reality
• Eight The Dream Realized
• Nine Mr. Clyburn Goes to Washington
• Ten Treading and Toiling
• Eleven The Age of Obama
• Twelve Blessed by the Past
• Epilogue
• Index