George
Thomas “Mickey” Leland
Early
Life and Education
George
Thomas "Mickey" Leland, III, was born on November 27,
1944, in Lubbock, Texas, to Alice and George Thomas Leland, II.
At an early age, he, along with his mother and brother (William
Gaston Leland), took up residence in the Fifth Ward of Houston,
Texas.
Growing
up in a predominately African American and Hispanic
neighborhood, Leland's first experience with the
"public" was in a segregated public school. Leland
showed early promise as a student, however. He ranked in the top
ten percent of his class when he graduated in 1964 from Phillis
Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas. While attending TSU (Texas Southern University) in the late sixties, Leland
emerged as a vocal leader of the local civil rights movement and
brought national leaders of the movement to Houston. He
graduated from Texas Southern University's School of Pharmacy in
1970 with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. He served as an
Instructor of Clinical Pharmacy at his alma mater from 1970-71,
and set up a "door to door" outreach campaign in
low-income neighborhoods to inform people about their medical
care options and to perform preliminary screenings. During the
same period Mickey Leland organized and led the Black Citizens
Action Teams ("Black Cats") to protest against police
brutality.
During
the administration of President Leonard O. Spearman, Leland
received an honorary doctorate degree from Texas Southern
University. He married the former Alison Clark Walton, a
Georgetown University law student, in 1983. Congressman Leland
fathered three children, Jarrett David (born February 6, 1986)
and twins, Austin Mickey and Cameron George (born January 14,
1990, after Leland's death).
Leland's
Political Career
In
1972, Mickey Leland was elected to the Texas House of
Representatives from the 88th District of Houston, Texas. He
served in the Texas Legislature until 1978. In Austin, Leland
became famous as the champion of health care rights for the
poor. Leland was largely responsible for the passage of
legislation that provided low-income consumers with access to
affordable generic drugs. He also supported the creation of
health care access through Health Maintenance Organizations
(HMO's). To accomplish his goals in Austin, he served on the
Texas State Labor Committee, State Affairs Committee, Human
Resources Committee, Legislative Council, and Subcommittee on
Occupational and Industrial Safety. Leland was also elected Vice
Chairman of the Joint Committee on Prison Reform. He was the
first African-American legislator to serve on the Senate-House
conference Committee as a member of the House Appropriations
Committee.
Congressman
Leland was elected in November 1978 to the United States House
of Representatives from the 18th Congressional District of
Houston, Texas. His Congressional district included the
neighborhood where he had grown up, and he was recognized as a
knowledgeable advocate for health, children and the elderly. His
leadership abilities were quickly noted in Washington, and he
was chosen Freshman Majority Whip in his first term, and later
served twice as At-Large Majority Whip. Leland was re-elected to
each succeeding Congress until his death in August 1989.
As
he visited soup kitchens and makeshift shelters, he became
increasingly concerned about the hungry and homeless. The work
for which he is best remembered began when Leland co-authored
legislation with Rep. Ben Gilman (R-NY) to establish the House
Select Committee on Hunger. Speaker Thomas P. "Tip"
O'Neil named Leland chairman when it was enacted in 1984. The
Select Committee's mandate was to "conduct a continuing,
comprehensive study and review of the problems of hunger and
malnutrition."
Although
it had no legislative jurisdiction, the committee, for the first
time, provided a single focus for hunger-related issues. The
committee's impact and influence would stem largely from
Congressman Leland's ability to generate awareness of complex
hunger alleviation issues and exert his personal moral
leadership. In addition to focusing attention on issues of
hunger, his legislative initiatives would create the National
Commission on Infant Mortality, better access to fresh food for
at-risk women, children and infants, and the first comprehensive
services for the homeless.
Leland's
sensitivity to the immediate needs of poor and hungry people
would soon make him a spokesman for hungry people on a far
broader scale. Reports of acute famine in sub-Saharan Africa
prompted Speaker O'Neil to ask Leland to lead a bipartisan
Congressional delegation to assess conditions and relief
requirements. When Leland returned, he brought together
entertainment personalities, religious leaders and private
voluntary agencies to create general public support for the
Africa Famine Relief and Recovery Act of 1985. That legislation
provided $800 million in food and humanitarian relief supplies.
The international attention Leland had focused on the famine
brought additional support for non-governmental efforts, saving
thousands of lives.
Leland's
ability to reach out to others with innovative ideas and to gain
support from unlikely sources was a key to his success in
effectively addressing the problems of the poor and minorities.
He met with both Pope John Paul II about food aid to Africa and
with Fidel Castro about reuniting Cuban families. In Moscow as
part of the first Congressional delegation let by a Speaker of
the House in the post-Cold War era, he proposed a joint U.S. -
Soviet food initiative to Mozambique. As chairman of the Black
Caucus, Leland proudly presented the first awards the Caucus had
ever given to a non-black, rock musician Bob Geldorf and news
person Ted Koppel. Geldorf was honored for his Band Aid concert
and fund-raising efforts for African famine victims and Koppel
for his news stories on the African famine.
Mickey
Leland was a powerful advocate on other causes as well. While
chairing the House Select Committee on Hunger, Leland was a
member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the
Subcommittees on Telecommunications and Finance, Health and the
Environment, and Energy and Power. He chaired the Subcommittee
on Postal Operations and Services and served on the Committee on
Post Office and Civil Service and the Subcommittee on
Compensation and Employment.
Minority
Affairs Mickey
Leland was a very effective promoter of responsible and
realistic broadcast television and cable programming. Through
widely publicized congressional hearings he aroused the nation's
conscience and reduced violence in children's television
programming. And he advocated ethnic diversity through
Affirmative Action in broadcast employment, both on and off
camera, and ownership. In particular, he worked to assure that
all of the characters in the media avoided ethnic stereotypes
and fairly portrayed the rich diversity that makes up the
American public. When the federal government began to privatize
federal assets, such as Conrail, Mickey Leland successfully
included legislative language that required the participation of
minority investment bankers in the negotiations.
Mickey
Leland's sincere concern for ethnic equality earned him a
leadership position in politics. During 1985-86, Congressman
Leland served as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)
for the 99th Congress. The CBC was created in 1971 with only 13
members. By 1987, the CBC had grown to 23 members. Leland was
also a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from
1976-85. He served as Chairman of the DNC's Black Caucus from
1981- 1985, and in that capacity, he served on the DNC's
Executive Committee.
World
Hunger and Peace When
running for re-election in 1988, Congressman Leland was quoted
as saying, "This is my 10th year in Congress, and I want to
go back." He stated further, "The more influence I
get, the more I can help the people of the 18th District, but
also (people) throughout the country." Leland was becoming
increasingly successful in international human rights and world
hunger issues. He fought against the injustice of South African
Apartheid, and led successful boycotts against South Africa
Airways and was instrumental in obtaining a congressional
override of President Reagan's veto of economic sanctions
against South Africa.
He
worked endlessly to solve the problems of domestic and
international hunger and malnutrition. Mickey Leland fought hard
to prevent food aid from being used as a political tool. He
advocated communication with all governments, even those
considered enemies, in order to further humanitarian goals and
supported the right of U.S. citizens to provide humanitarian
assistance to civilians of any nation. His successful
initiatives expanded funding of primary health care in
developing countries, including UNICEF's child survival
activities and Vitamin A programs supported by the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID). Under Leland's aegis, the
Select Committee reemphasized the priority of hunger and the
alleviation of poverty within the foreign assistance program of
the United States. The committee successfully campaigned for
expanding credit to the poorest individuals in low-income
countries and the use of proceeds from the sale of donated U.S.
commodities for health, education and other grass-roots
development activities.
Mickey Leland died as he had lived, on a mission seeking to help those most in need. While leading another relief mission in 1989, to an isolated refugee camp, Fugnido, in Ethiopia, which sheltered thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing the civil conflict in neighboring Sudan, Leland's plane crashed into a mountainside in Ethiopia. The force of the crash killed everyone aboard, including the Congressman, his chief of staff Patrice Johnson, and 13 other passengers from a number of government, humanitarian, and development organizations.
George Thomas "Mickey" Leland ▪ Born November 27, 1944, Lubbock, TX ▪ Died August 7, 1989, Gambela, Ethiopia
Biography provided by the
Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger & Peace at