HR0500 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0500 LRB101 13873 ALS 62735 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was the first Black union in America to win a collective bargaining agreement with a major U.S. corporation and to be chartered under the American Federation of Labor; and

WHEREAS, In 1941, A. Philip Randolph successfully organized a call for mass protests to fight discrimination against blacks in wartime jobs; that protest was called off after President Franklin Roosevelt issued an Executive Order banning all discriminatory practices; another threatened protest caused President Harry Truman to issue an Executive Order abolishing the practice of segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS, The ensuing successes led A. Philip Randolph to organize the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech; and

WHEREAS, The A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum was founded in 1995 by Dr. Lyn Hughes; the museum is a self-funded African American labor history museum located in the Historic Pullman District and is the only cultural institution in the nation that showcases the history of the African American labor union movement, the BSCP, and A. Philip Randolph; and

WHEREAS, The A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum proudly celebrates and honors its namesake's lifelong leadership in securing employment for all Americans, as well as his momentous work to end discrimination and secure employment opportunities for African Americans in organized labor; and

WHEREAS, The accomplishments of the BSCP and its founder, A. Philip Randolph, opened the doors to organized labor for African Americans and created a vehicle through which many Civil Rights activities were begun; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we commemorate the 94th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and commend the accomplishments of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum; we wish the museum continued success in preserving and protecting the history of A. Philip Randolph, the Pullman Porters, the African American Labor Movement, and the Pullman District; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to David A. Peterson, President of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, and to Dr. Lyn Hughes, Founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum.