It was on this day that Adam Clayton Powell (November 29th, 1908 - April 4th, 1972) was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Son of the famed minister of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church, the younger Powell became a civil rights activist, using mass meetings and strikes to force employement reforms. In 1944 Adam Clayton Powell was elected to Congress and began what was considered a controversial congressional career. Among his early actions were the desegregation of eating facilities in the House and a unrelenting fight to end discrimination in the armed forces, employment, housing, and transportation. Later in his career, his questionable activities while chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor resulted in his expulsion from Congress, re-election and eventual return to his seat. Powell was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.
Powell was the subject of the 2002 cable television film KEEP THE FAITH, BABY starring Harry Lennix as Powell and Vanessa L. Williams as his second wife, jazz pianist Hazel Scott. The film debuted on February 17, 2002 on premium cable network Showtime and was a production of Showtime and Paramount Network Television. It garnered three NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Television Movie, Outstanding Television Actor in a TV Movie (Lennix) and Outstanding Television Actress in a TV Movie (Williams). It won two NAMIC Vision Awards (cable executives) for Best Drama and Best Actor (Lennix). Williams also earned a Best Actress in a TV Movie Golden Satellite Award from the International Press Association. The film was the brainchild of the Hon. Adam Clayton Powell, IV and his campaign manager Geoffrey L. Garfield, who lead the team as Producer. Powell, IV and his half brother Adam, III, were credited as Co-Producers of the biopic.
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