PLBC celebrates 50 years as a formal caucus with K. Leroy Irvis Day of Action

HARRISBURG, May 23 – The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus held its second annual K. Leroy Irvis Day of Action today in honor of the first Black speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and to celebrate its 50th year as a formal legislative caucus.

“Today is a joyous day. It is a reminder of the hard work this caucus has done over the last 50 years and the hard work still left to do,” State Rep. Donna Bullock, D-Phila., chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, said. “We honored our past by remembering the life and legacy of former Speaker K. Leroy Irvis, and we invested in our future by presenting scholarships to the bright and promising young men and women who earned them with their scholarly prowess.”

Following a 10 a.m. news event on the front steps of the Speaker K. Leroy Irvis building, Black Pennsylvanians — youth, community leaders, small business owners, clergy and advocacy organizations — gathered for a series of panels on the state of Black Pennsylvania, labor, cannabis and voter disenfranchisement.

As part of the day of action, the PLBC congratulated the following recipients of the 2023 PLBC James Roebuck Scholarship: Mamadou Bah, Upper Merion High School; Kayla Banks, Cheltenham High School; Jayant Bullet, Cumberland Valley High School; Makalya Coleman, George Washington Carver High School; Ellyssa Elliot, Reading High School; Trevor Gardner, George Washington Carver High School; Kramoh Mansalay, McDaniel College; Lunden McClain, Central Dauphin East High School; Mariel Montes, Hazelton High School; Favour Okiye, Central Dauphin East High School; Jaden Palmer-Waldron, Germantown Friends High School; Milaj Robinson, Philadelphia Electrical & Technology High School; Nariah Savage, Morgan State University; Mariam Stewart, William Penn Carter High School; and Jabril Williams, Franklin Learning Center.