HR1184 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1184 LRB100 22369 MST 41254 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Lewis Myers Jr., who passed away on May 24, 2018; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was born in Houston, Texas and graduated with honors from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1965; he was elected NAACP Youth Council President for the Houston branch and led student demonstrations that helped integrate the Houston Independent School District; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers studied at Tennessee State University, where he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (S.N.C.C.) Chapter; he also became chairman of the Students Rights Organization Chapter at Tennessee State; he transferred to Howard University, and in 1968, was elected president of the Undergraduate Student Council; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers entered law school at Rutgers University, where he initiated a program called the Southern Mobilization Committee, which gave African American law students the opportunity to work in the Deep South with civil rights firms during their summer breaks; he later transferred to the University of Mississippi, which allowed him to work in rural Mississippi and expand his civil rights work; he earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1972; he was a student assistant to famed constitutional and civil rights lawyer Herbert Reid who was the former Dean of the Law School at Howard University, as well as Chief Counsel to legendary Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from New York; and

WHEREAS, In 1971, Lewis Myers worked with what was then called the Goldberg Commission in New York City; he served as an assistant on the staff and visited many of the cities where the Black Panther Party had been involved in confrontations with the local police departments; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers accepted a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship, which enabled him to work with a civil rights legal services program across the United States; he was selected to work in Mississippi, where he started working as a staff attorney with North Mississippi Rural Legal Services in Oxford; initially, he handled school desegregation cases; however, within a year of his graduation from law school, he filed suit on behalf of African American law students at the University in the case of Robinson vs. University of Mississippi; the lawsuit challenged the University's historic policies of racial discrimination and exclusion of African Americans from admission to its law school and subsequently opened up the admissions process which has allowed many African American students to complete their education since that time; and

WHEREAS, After serving for several years at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, Lewis Myers became Director of Litigation in charge of more than 45 lawyers and 40 paralegals; he was responsible for managing seven legal service offices throughout cities in Northern Mississippi and the Mississippi Delta; he initiated numerous lawsuits challenging racial discrimination in municipal governments and in private employment practices in the State of Mississippi; in 1973, he was one of the lawyers that filed the historic case of Ayers vs. Mississippi which ultimately led to the desegregation of institutions of higher learning in the United States after reaching the United States Supreme Court; between 1974 and 1976, he was on the cutting edge of filing more than six lawsuits against county jails in the State of Mississippi for inhumane conditions and the treatment of their inmates; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was involved in numerous historic cases, including Ayers vs. Mississippi, the People of the State of Illinois vs. Larry Hoover, New Jersey vs. Joanne Chesmard a/k/a Assata Shakur-mother of Tupac Shakur, the United States vs. Rene Leon, and the Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt case; he served as counsel for seven young boys who were expelled from the Decatur public schools after a fight at a football game; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers served as general counsel for several national civil rights leaders, including Minister Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and Rev. Al Sharpton; he served as chief operating officer and the national deputy director of the NAACP in Baltimore; in August of 1993, he served as national deputy coordinator of the historic 30th anniversary for the March on Washington; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was one of the top litigation lawyers in the Chicago area; he taught Evidence and Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at DePaul University's School of Law in Chicago; he taught at several Chicago City Colleges and served as director of the Criminal Justice Program at Kennedy King College; he was also a professor teaching Criminal Justice at Chicago State University; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers was a member of the Illinois Bar, the Bar of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Bar of the Federal Appellate Court for the Third Circuit, the Bar for the Federal Appellate Court for the Fifth Circuit, the Bar of the United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, and the Bar for the Federal Court of Claims; he was a member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Lawyers' Guild (Executive Board, Chicago Chapter), the National Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, and the National Conference of Black Lawyers (Chairperson, Chicago Chapter); he held memberships with several professional organizations, including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the NAACP (Life Member), 500 Black Men (Founder of Chicago Chapter), Black Men's Forum, and the American Historical Association; he was the recipient of many accolades and awards; he was listed in several Who's Who publications and was recognized as one of the most influential African Americans in the United States in various national publications; and

WHEREAS, Lewis Myers is survived by his wife, Celestine Narcisse-Myers, and his son, Lewis Myers III; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Lewis Myers Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Lewis Myers as an expression of our deepest sympathy.