2020 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 38
BY SENATOR JACKSON
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the
death of Reverend Dr. Harry Blake, pastor and civil rights leader.
WHEREAS, it is with sincere regret and profound sorrow that the members of the
Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana have learned of the death of Dr. Harry Blake on
April 8, 2020, at age eighty-five; and
WHEREAS, he grew up on a plantation in north Caddo Parish and attended a
one-room school; his mother had a third grade education and his father, a sharecropper, did
not know how to read or write but knew how to read people; and
WHEREAS, while a teenager working at a country store owned by a man named
H.L. Whitlow, Dr. Blake came to understand that he was at least as intelligent as many of
the farmers who stopped there to buy goods, which inspired him to attend Bishop College
in Texas; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the commencement speaker at
Blake's graduation ceremony in 1960, invited him to come to Atlanta to be interviewed for
a position with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Reverend King hired
him; and
WHEREAS, he became the sixteenth pastor of Mt. Canaan Baptist Church on
August 4, 1966, and served for fifty-two years, first as pastor and then as pastor emeritus;
and
WHEREAS, Reverend Blake's leadership gave impetus to phenomenal growth and
accomplishments with the church, including a new edifice in 1976 and Family Life Center
in 1995, with the church now having a culturally diverse membership of more than two
thousand; and
WHEREAS, he also served as Interim Pastor of St. Rest Baptist Church in
Shreveport; and
Page 1 of 2 SR NO. 38 ENROLLED
WHEREAS, Reverend Blake served as moderator of the Thirteenth District Baptist
Association, president of the Louisiana Missionary Baptist State Convention, and vice
president of the Southwest Region for the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.; and
WHEREAS, over the decades he advocated for equality, justice, and for better
education, healthcare, and housing in his community; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Blake survived an assassin's bullet, a police beating, and unjust
arrests in Shreveport, Louisiana, in the early 1960s as he fought for black people to gain
equal rights and was a go-to person in Shreveport for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during that
era; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Blake built a legacy as a pastor, community leader, civil
rights leader, and denominational leader; and
WHEREAS, the death of Reverend Dr. Harry Blake has left a tremendous void in his
community and has created a genuine sense of sorrow in the many individuals who mourn
the loss of the kind nature and bright mind of this wonderful man whose memory shall
forever remain in their minds and hearts.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby express sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the death of the Reverend
Dr. Harry Blake and does hereby extend posthumous honor and recognition to Reverend
Blake for his incomparable legacy which is marked by deep pride and honor.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
family of Reverend Dr. Harry Blake.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
Page 2 of 2