DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about George Thomas Mickey Leland the Third. November 27, 1944. A boy is born in Lubbock, Texas, and given the name George Thomas Leland the Third.
Nobody calls him George Thomas for long. The world comes to know him as Mickey. And the world — not just Houston, not just Texas, but the actual world — is never quite the same for it.
Mickey grows up in Houston's Fifth Ward, attending segregated schools, moving through a system designed to limit what a kid like him could dream. But Mickey Leland is not a man who takes limits lying down. He graduates from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1963, and by 1970 he has a pharmacy degree from Texas Southern University.
His Catholic faith and the fire of 1960s activism are both burning in him by then, and together they forge something — a commitment to the less fortunate that doesn't soften with time. It sharpens. At age 27, he gets himself elected to the Texas House of Representatives.
Twenty-seven years old. Representing Houston for six years, he goes to work on civil rights, voting rights, generic drugs, affordable health care. He is not there to warm a seat.
Then comes 1973. Mickey takes his first trip outside the United States — to Tanzania. And what he sees there, the widespread devastation of famine, changes his life forever.
That is exactly what the marker says: forever. He comes home a different man with a bigger mission. In 1978, he wins election to the United States Congress from the 18th district — the seat vacated by Barbara Jordan herself.
That is quite a chair to settle into, and Mickey Leland does not waste a minute of it. By 1984, he helps create the House Select Committee on World Hunger to address social and economic issues. He secures an aid package of seven hundred and eighty-four million dollars for famine relief.
Seven hundred and eighty-four million. And he takes on apartheid in South Africa through sanctions and protests, because there is no corner of injustice too far away for Mickey Leland's attention. Now here is where the story asks you to sit still and listen carefully.
August 7, 1989. Congressman Leland and fifteen others are on a relief mission — headed to Sudanese refugee camps in Ethiopia. The kind of trip he had made his life's work.
Their plane goes down in bad weather. All sixteen are lost. A son, a brother, a husband, a father of three sons.
Gone at the height of everything he was building. But here is the thing about a life lived that wide open — it leaves marks everywhere. On the campus of Texas Southern University, the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs carries his name alongside the woman whose congressional seat he once inherited.
The Mickey Leland Center on Hunger, Poverty and World Peace stands there too. In Houston, an international airport terminal bears his name, as does a federal building, a prep school, a community park. The marker puts it plain and I'll say it just as plain: he led by example in fighting for justice, and his influence reached around the world.
From the Fifth Ward to Ethiopia, from Lubbock to the halls of Congress — Mickey Leland covered some ground in forty-four years. Most of us will spend a whole long life trying to do half as much.
What the marker says
Legislator and activist Mickey Leland fought passionately for the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. Born George Thomas Leland III on November 27, 1944, in Lubbock, Mickey was raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward, where he attended segregated schools. He graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1963 and the Texas Southern University (TSU) School of Pharmacy in 1970. Influenced by his Catholic faith and 1960s activism, Leland was committed to helping those less fortunate, a principle that permeated his life and career. Elected to the Texas House of Representatives at age 27, Leland represented Houston for six years, focusing on civil rights, voting rights, generic drugs and affordable health care. A trip to Tanzania in 1973, his first outside the U.S., changed his life forever. After seeing the widespread devastation of famine, Leland focused his political influence to alleviate hunger on a global scale. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 18th district, the seat vacated by Barbara Jordan. In 1984, he helped create the house select committee on world hunger to address social and economic issues. He later secured an aid package of $784 million for famine relief. Leland also fought against apartheid in South Africa through sanctions and protests. On august 7, 1989, Congressman Leland and 15 others died in a plane crash in bad weather, while on a relief mission to Sudanese refugee camps in Ethiopia. A son, brother, husband, and father of three sons, he is remembered on TSU’s campus with the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs and Mickey Leland Center on Hunger, Poverty and World Peace. Other Houston sites named for him include the international airport terminal, the federal building, a prep school and a community park. He led by example in fighting for justice, and his influence reached around the world. (2021)