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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
20-22
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
March 5, 2013
To recognize the contributions of Dovey Johnson Roundtree to the community, and to declare March 10, 2013, as “Dovey Johnson Roundtree Day” in the District of Columbia.
WHEREAS, Dovey Johnson Roundtree is a trailblazing lawyer, minister, and Army veteran, born in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 17, 1914, and resided in Washington, D.C., for 50 years, until her retirement to Charlotte in 1996;
WHEREAS, Dovey Johnson Roundtree made history as a member of the first class of African American women to train as officers in the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women’s Army Corps, or WAC), having been selected for this honor by Mary McLeod Bethune;
WHEREAS, Dovey Johnson Roundtree served her country faithfully and honorably from 1942-1945 as a member of the WAAC/WAC, achieving the rank of Captain;
WHEREAS, on November 7, 1955, Dovey Johnson Roundtree made legal history in the field of transportation with her groundbreaking case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, which mandated an end to Jim Crow seating in buses traveling across state lines, and which in 1961 empowered then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to permanently end segregated bus travel during the Freedom Riders’ campaign;
WHEREAS, in 1962, Dovey Johnson Roundtree became the first African American member of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia;
WHEREAS, from 1951 until her retirement in 1996, Dovey Johnson Roundtree served the community with distinction as a lawyer of extraordinary commitment and dedication, representing the disadvantaged of Washington, D.C.;
WHEREAS, Dovey Johnson Roundtree served as General Counsel, pro bono, to the National Council of Negro Women;
WHEREAS, in her capacity as a leader in the legal community, Dovey Johnson Roundtree generously mentored the generation of younger lawyers who followed her;
WHEREAS, in 1961, Dovey Johnson Roundtree led the vanguard of women in the ministry with her ordination as an Itinerant Deacon in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1964, with her ordination as an Itinerant Elder in that church;
WHEREAS, from 1961 until her retirement in 1996, Dovey Johnson Roundtree served on the ministerial staff of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Southeast Washington, in which capacity she counseled, mentored, and advised members of the church as well as the greater Southeast community;
WHEREAS, Dovey Johnson Roundtree has received many awards, both locally and nationally, including the 2000 American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, and the 2011 Janet B. Reno Torchbearer Award from the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and
WHEREAS, Dovey Johnson Roundtree will be honored on March 10, 2013 by the dedication of the senior housing complex known as The Roundtree Residences in her name.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Dovey Johnson Roundtree Day Declaration Resolution of 2013”.
Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia recognizes and honors the contributions of Dovey Johnson Roundtree, and declares March 10, 2013, as “Dovey Johnson Roundtree Day” in the District of Columbia.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.
