RECOGNIZING THE HARLEM CULTURAL
ARCHIVES HISTORICAL
SOCIETY’S TRIBUTE TO THE
LLOYD EVERETT DICKENS FAMILY
HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today
in recognition of The Harlem Cultural Archives
Historical Society’s tribute to the legacy of the
Lloyd Everett Dickens Family at their 2nd Annual
Award Luncheon taking place at Harlem’s
renown Londel’s Supper Club.
Before the first Wall Street crash and Great
Depression of the early 1920’s, hard-working
successful African Americans found it very difficult
to rent apartments and buy homes.
Landlords did not want Blacks living in their
buildings as tenants, and white property owners
would not acknowledge Blacks who sought
to bid on their property.
Two young men, Fred and Lloyd Dickens
from Watonga, Oklahoma, where their father,
Andrew, was a United States marshal disliked
what they had observed and what Blacks were
experiencing in seeking housing and ownership.
They created and built a partnership to
conduct real estate business in Harlem and
throughout the City of New York.
By the late 1950s, Lloyd E. Dickens had
built a reputation as one of Harlem’s most
successful veterans in the housing profession.
He had also established a name in political
circles, distinguishing himself as both a District
Leader and Assembly Member as one of New
York City’s major powerbrokers. In 1959, he
was the only Tammany Hall leader to defy
party leaders when then Manhattan Chairman
Carmine G. De Sapio sought to end the political
career of Congressman Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. Instead of following, Dickens led,
pressing an agenda that called for a fair share
of patronage and representation to deal with
the social and economic problems of black
people.
For the rest of his years, Lloyd Dickens remained
in the vanguard of the struggle to secure
equality for blacks and other minorities in
the job market, the courts, city government
and education. Today, the Dickens family legacy
continues through Lloyd’s two daughters,
Delores Richards and my political wife Inez
‘‘Betty’’ Dickens. Delores continues to run
Lloyd E. Dickens & Company with the same
dedication, integrity, fairness and core values,
which was inspired by her father and uncle.
Inez is following in the same path as her father,
District Leader, first vice chair of the New
York State Democratic Committee, and now,
the Majority Whip of the New York City Council—
second most powerful female member
and highest-ranking African-American woman.
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure
to thank the Harlem Cultural Archives Historical
Society for preserving and documenting
Harlem’s illustrious contributions and its history;
and for establishing the Dickens Family
Scholarship for college students who have exhibited
an interest in the Harlem community
and achieved academic excellence. It is the
least that we can do to honor and pay tribute
to a man who did so much for our community
and all people of good will.
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