Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/Extensions of Remarks/Honoring Calvin C. Goode
HONORING FORMER PHOENIX CITY COUNCILMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER CALVIN C. GOODE
HON. GREG STANTON
OF ARIZONA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Mr. Stanton. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of a civil rights icon and progressive giant, former Phoenix City Councilman Calvin C. Goode, who passed away on December 23, 2020 at the age of 93. Calvin spoke softly but carried with him the moral authority of having fought—and won—many civil rights battles throughout his long career.
Calvin was just 10 months old when his family moved from Oklahoma to Gila Bend, Arizona. The family relocated again to Prescott when the local school refused to enroll Calvin because of the color of his skin. He went on to attend Carver High School in Phoenix, Arizona’s only high school built for Black students. After growing up attending segregated schools, Calvin devoted his life to improving education access in our community alongside his beloved late wife Georgie. He earned degrees in business and education from Phoenix College and Arizona State University, and served as an accountant for Carver and other Phoenix Union High School District schools for 30 years.
First elected in 1971, Calvin served a record 22 years on the Phoenix City Council. During his time at City Hall, Calvin continued to be guided by his deeply held belief in the equality of all people. Known as the “Conscience of the Council,” his legacy of creating opportunity for all endures in Phoenix—from the early childhood education and jobs programs he championed to the anti-discrimination ordinance he helped broker. He was instrumental in pushing the City to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day, paving the way for the holiday to be observed statewide.
Even after his time on the Council, Calvin remained one of the most impactful leaders in the Phoenix community. He fought to protect the history of his beloved Eastlake Park neighborhood where he lived for most of his life—an area shaped by segregation and redlining that became a gathering place for civil rights leaders. In his later years, he was instrumental in turning his alma mater, the formerly segregated Carver High School, into a museum and worked to ensure the institution would survive and thrive to hold African American Arizonans’ history for future generations.
He was above all a man of quiet courage and unshakeable conviction, and we are all better because of his lifetime of service. Godspeed, Calvin.