HR0610 LRB093 15443 HSS 41046 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois learned with regret of the death of Dr. Jacob
4 Hudson Carruthers, Jr., of Chicago on Sunday, January 4, 2004;
5 and
 
6     WHEREAS, Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr. was born February 15,
7 1930, in Dallas; he excelled academically; following
8 graduation from Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas,
9 he attended Samuel Houston College in Austin, Texas, where he
10 earned a bachelor's degree; after the Sweatt vs. Painter United
11 States Supreme Court decision in 1950, he along with Heman
12 Marion Sweatt and three other African Americans integrated the
13 University of Texas Law School; jurisprudence, however, was not
14 his calling, and he did not return the following year; in 1951,
15 facing the draft and the Korean War, he volunteered for the
16 United States Air Force; after serving in the Air Force, he
17 enrolled in Texas Southern University where he earned a
18 master's degree in government; and
 
19     WHEREAS, His passion for learning and a sense of service
20 led him back to the classroom; from 1961 to 1964, Dr.
21 Carruthers taught at Prairie View College in Texas; after being
22 the first African American to earn a doctorate in political
23 science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, he taught
24 at Kansas State College in Pittsburg, Kansas, for two years;
25 thereafter, his career led him to Chicago, and in 1968, he
26 joined the faculty of the Department of Inner City Studies
27 Education at the Center of Inner City Studies of Northeastern
28 Illinois University, where he taught for 32 years; and
 
29     WHEREAS, Dr. Carruthers' leadership pioneered the
30 development of both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Inner
31 City Studies, which influenced the development of hundreds of
32 students who sought careers working in the urban environment of

 

 

HR0610 - 2 - LRB093 15443 HSS 41046 r

1 the inner city; he contributed to the development of the Inner
2 City Studies academic discipline in the United States, and he
3 fostered the Chicago School of African Centered Thought that
4 manifested itself in the community based Communiversity; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Serving as a consultant on African centered
6 education to the Chicago Public Schools and other school
7 systems throughout the United States, Dr. Carruthers was
8 influential in the African centered education movement; he was
9 a cofounder of the teacher training program, Teaching About
10 Africa; he was also sought after nationally and internationally
11 as a lecturer on African history; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Dr. Carruthers established himself through his
13 work with leading African and African-American scholars in the
14 world through his leadership in the development of a plan to
15 rewrite African history under the aegis of the African World
16 History Project of the Association for the Study of Classical
17 African Civilizations (ASCAC); he was a founding member of the
18 Kemetic Institute and ASCAC; and
 
19     WHEREAS, Dr. Carruthers authored several important books
20 that paved the way and provided the framework for the African
21 centered approach to the research and study of Classical
22 African history and African civilization; his works include:
23 Intellectual Warfare (1999), Mdw Ntr (1995), Essays in Ancient
24 Egyptian Studies (1984), and The Irritated Genie (1985); other
25 significant works include Science and Oppression (1972) and
26 African or American (1994); he coedited Reconstructing Kemetic
27 Culture (1990), The African Worldview (1986), and The
28 Preliminary Challenge (1997); many of his works challenged the
29 prevailing ideas in the field of Egyptology as well as the role
30 of African people in the development of civilization in the
31 ancient Nile Valley; and
 
32     WHEREAS, In 1981, Dr. Carruthers became the High Priest of

 

 

HR0610 - 3 - LRB093 15443 HSS 41046 r

1 the Temple of the African Community of Chicago that was
2 established to meet the spiritual needs of those who sought to
3 practice ancient Nile Valley spirituality; in 1995, Dr.
4 Carruthers was initiated into elderhood in a community ritual
5 at which time he took the name Jedi Shemsu Jehewty (the one who
6 speaks is a follower of Jehewty); and
 
7     WHEREAS, The passing of Dr. Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr.,
8 has been deeply felt by many, especially his wife, Linda (Ifé);
9 his sons, Jacob III, Darnell, and Christopher; his daughter,
10 Tawakalitu Jogunosimi; his niece, Margaret Lee (Georges), who
11 he considered a daughter; his grandchildren, Jacqueline and
12 Jacob IV; his great-grandchildren, Lynon and Makala; his
13 sister, Carol Lee (Charles); his brothers, Riley and Andrew
14 (Willie); and his many nieces, nephews, and cousins; therefore,
15 be it
 
16     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
17 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
18 mourn the passing of Dr. Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr., who was
19 a distinguished African-American scholar, historian, and
20 researcher; and be it further
 
21     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
22 presented to the family of Dr. Carruthers as an expression of
23 our deepest sympathy during their time of bereavement.