This week, Capitol Hill lost one of its most influential icons.
In a statement from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Democratic Rep. Bill Clay Sr., one of the 13 founding members of the CBC and an icon in Missouri’s civil rights movement, died this week at 94.
“Congressman Clay helped build the CBC into a force for equity and accountability in American Democracy,” caucus Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said Thursday in a press statement.
“As a member of Congress, he was a fierce defender of labor rights, education and social justice.”
Clay became Missouri’s first Black congressman when St. Louis voters elected him in 1968. He entered the House alongside two other Black lawmakers, former Reps. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) and Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) The trio helped launch the Congressional Black Caucus several years later in 1971.
According to local affiliate Fox 2, during the summer of 1963, Clay, then a St. Louis Alderman, organized the Jefferson Bank protests.
The bank, known for serving black customers, had moved locations, and re-opened with a nearly all-white staff. Black tellers were not retained.
Clay was among the protesters who were jailed for several months to a year.
Clay spent his entire 32-year career in the House serving on the Education and Labor Committee, where he championed efforts to reform the Hatch Act and promoted the Family and Medical Leave Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
When Clay left public office, he was succeeded by his son, William Lacy Clay Jr., who served in Congress until 2021.
“His work laid the foundation for future generations of Black leadership in public service,” Clarke wrote. “May he rest in power and everlasting peace.”
Even Clay’s political opponents revered the impact he had on the country.
Even Clay’s political opposites agreed.
“When you look at his legacy, his time in Congress, even before that: someone who fought for civil rights, fought for workers’ rights, and really did so much for the St. Louis region, the entire state of Missouri; he’s a great credit to our state,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley said.
There has been no official word yet on the exact cause of Clay’s death at the time of publication. He had been in hospice care, according to reports.