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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is honoring
3Alexander Lane, the first African-American male student at
4Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, who enrolled in 1876;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Historian Pamela Smoot's research on Lane's life
7began at SIU-Carbondale's Morris Library and included trips to
8Chicago, Springfield, and Mississippi; the research shows that
9Lane was born into slavery in pre-Civil War Mississippi and
10later migrated to Illinois as a young boy, where he was taken
11in by a southern Illinois farming family who helped assure he
12had the opportunity to gain an education at what was then
13Southern Illinois Normal University; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Alexander Lane served as the first principal of
15Carbondale's East Side School for Negroes, which later became
16Attucks School; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Alexander Lane married the former Isabelle
18Holland, who also attended SIU-Carbondale, and together they
19had one son before moving to Chicago in the early 1890s in
20order to attend Rush Medical College, from which he graduated
21in 1895; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Alexander Lane was appointed assistant physician
2of Cook County and had a private practice at 1937 S. Archer
3Avenue in Chicago; he entered politics in 1906 by running for
4and winning a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives as
5a Republican, where he became the ninth African-American
6elected to the Illinois General Assembly; he was reelected in
71908 and served until his death in November 1911; and
 
8    WHEREAS, To honor his legacy, the Paul Simon Public Policy
9Institute has established the Alexander Lane Internship
10Program to foster civic engagement opportunities for students
11at Southern Illinois University to work with members of the
12Illinois General Assembly and the Legislative Black Caucus; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Alexander Lane was a trailblazer for first
14generation college students, the disadvantaged,
15African-Americans in education, medicine, public health,
16public service, and elected politics, and African-American
17State legislators; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is hosting
19a Black History Month event at Rush University Medical Center
20in Chicago on Monday, February 27, 2012 to honor Alexander Lane
21and his many accomplishments; therefore, be it
 
22    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE

 

 

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1NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
2we designate February 27, 2012 as "Alexander Lane Day" in the
3State of Illinois in honor of the Honorable Dr. Alexander M.
4Lane and his legacy of high achievement against significant
5challenges; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7presented to the family of Alexander Lane as a symbol of our
8esteem and respect of their revered ancestor and to the Paul
9Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University
10Carbondale in tribute to its dedication to the telling of the
11Alexander Lane story.