HR1303 LRB093 24243 CSA 54455 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Shirley Chisholm, the first African American
3 woman elected to the United States Congress and an
4 inspirational advocate for women and minorities, passed away on
5 January 1, 2005; and
 
6     WHEREAS, She was born Shirley St. Hill on November 30, 1924
7 in New York, and was the eldest of four daughters of a Guyanese
8 father and a Barbadian mother; she grew up in Barbados, then
9 returned to her native Brooklyn, New York, graduating from
10 Brooklyn College in 1946; and
 
11     WHEREAS, While teaching nursery school and serving as
12 director of the Friends Day Nursery in Brooklyn, she studied
13 elementary education at Columbia University, where she
14 received her master's degree in 1952; an education consultant
15 for New York City's day-care division, she was also active with
16 community and political groups, including the National
17 Association for the Advancement of Colored People and her
18 district's Unity Democratic Club; and
 
19     WHEREAS, From 1964 to 1968, she represented her Brooklyn
20 district in the New York state legislature; in 1968, she was
21 elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; as a candidate
22 for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 1972, she
23 won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race; and
 
24     WHEREAS, She was a founder of the National Women's
25 Political Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus;
26 throughout her congressional career, which lasted from 1969 to
27 1983, she supported the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion
28 rights; she wrote the autobiographical works "Unbought and
29 Unbossed" and "The Good Fight"; after her retirement from
30 Congress, she was a sought-after lecturer; she also held the
31 position of Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke College from

 

 

HR1303 - 2 - LRB093 24243 CSA 54455 r

1 1983 to 1987, and was a visiting scholar at Spelman College in
2 1985; therefore, be it
 
3     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
5 mourn the passing of Shirley Chisholm, a woman of great
6 courage, a civil rights icon, and a champion of women and
7 African Americans.