Courage in the People's House: Nine Trailblazing Representatives Who Shaped America

Summary

The remarkable stories of nine US Representatives who helped shape America, by a sitting member of the House of Representatives.

Courage in the People’s House tells the gripping stories of nine individuals who served in the US House of Representatives—the “People’s House”—during a span of over one hundred years, from the 1870s to the 1990s. From the first African American ever elected, to public servants who were among some of the first immigrants to serve in the Congress, all were trailblazers who made significant contributions to the country. The book provides an inspiring story of America through profiles of each of them, representatives of all political stripes who overcame the odds and demonstrated the courage to challenge powerful interests, and at times, their own political allies. The nine pioneering members of Congress are:
-Joseph Rainey, South Carolina
-Josiah Walls, Florida
-William B. Wilson, Pennsylvania
-Adolph Sabath, Illinois
-Oscar Stanton DePriest, Illinois
-Margaret Chase Smith, Maine
-Henry B. Gonzalez, Texas
-Shirley Chisholm, New York
-Barbara Jordan, Texas

Representative Joe Neguse, the first African American elected to the Congress from Colorado, shares how these nine ordinary Americans served nobly despite the barriers before them and did extraordinary things in service to their constituents, the Constitution, and the country.