Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

CTL-E-6206 · Person · politician · 1908–1972

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07402 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6206.

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was a Baptist pastor and Democratic congressman who represented Harlem in the U.S. House of Representatives. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1908 and raised in New York, he graduated from Colgate University in 1930 and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1932. He served Abyssinian Baptist Church as manager and assistant pastor from 1930 and succeeded his father as pastor in 1937, holding that pulpit until 1971. Elected to the New York City Council in 1941, he founded and edited the People's Voice newspaper in 1942 and entered Congress in 1945 as the first Black congressman from the northeastern United States. From 1961 he chaired the House Committee on Education and Labor. The House excluded him in March 1967; voters reelected him, he was seated again in 1969 after the Supreme Court ruled the exclusion unconstitutional, and he lost renomination in 1970.

The record

• Also known as: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Adam Clayton Powell Jr. entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6206 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2337 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: A defining Harlem political and pulpit figure whose career links Black church leadership to federal civil-rights and social legislation; in scope as a national Black political leader with no direct Chicago base. Vital status: DECEASED — born November 29, 1908, in New Haven, Connecticut; died April 4, 1972, in Miami, Florida, per Encyclopedia.com At a Glance and Columbia Encyclopedia dates (1908–1972). STATISTICS — Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church 1937–1971 (Encyclopedia.com); U.S. Congressman 1945–1967 and 1969–1970 in that source's career line, while Columbia Encyclopedia summarizes service as first elected 1945, excluded March 1967, seated 1969, defeated 1970 — no material conflict, only compression. Chaired House Education and Labor 1961–1967 (Encyclopedia.com). Fine on reseating: $25,000 (Columbia Encyclopedia). MEDIA: photo HELD (A Library of Congress or congressional portrait photograph of Powell at the House Education and Labor Committee in the early 1960s is a plausible candidate; no license is claimed and a file-level PHOTO-001 record is required before any use.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6206-adam-clayton-powell-jr.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short found; near-miss: none titled for Powell — closest political-figure Shorts in the map are for other subjects.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short found; near-miss: none titled for Powell — closest political-figure Shorts in the) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Relationships

• Harlem — based in
  Powell represented Harlem in Congress and pastored Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

Referenced by

• Columbia University — has alumnus → this record

Sources

• Encyclopedia.com — Contemporary Black Biography profile of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (accessed 2026-10-16) — Birth and death dates and places, education, Abyssinian pastorate 1937–1971, City Council 1941–1945, People's Voice founding, congressional service and committee chairmanship. — https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/adam-clayton-powell-jr (primary source · build store)
• Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia via FactMonster — Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr. (accessed 2026-10-16) — Pastor from 1937, council election 1941, first congressional election 1945, 1967 exclusion, 1969 seating with fine and loss of seniority, Supreme Court ruling, and 1970 defeat. — https://www.FactMonster.com/encyclopedia/history/bios/us/powell-adam-clayton-jr (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6206 · Combined Graph record U-07402 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 2 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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