(1908 – 1972) Civil rights leader and clergyman, elected to the House of Representatives for eleven terms. In the late 1930s, while assisting his father in his pastorate at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, Powell began to organize anti-discrimination demonstrations and campaigns for jobs in New York City. In 1941 he was elected to the New York city council, and four years later was elected to Congress as a representative for Harlem.

While in Congress he spoke in support of the sit-ins, sponsored civil-rights legislation as well as bills comprising part of Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”.