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1 | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois General Assembly are | ||||||
3 | pleased to honor the life and legacy of America's greatest | ||||||
4 | champion of racial justice and equality, Dr. Martin Luther King | ||||||
5 | Jr.; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, | ||||||
7 | 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia; after attending Morehouse College in | ||||||
8 | Atlanta, Dr. King went on to study at Crozer Theological | ||||||
9 | Seminary in Pennsylvania and Boston University, where he | ||||||
10 | deepened his understanding of theological scholarship and | ||||||
11 | explored Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent strategy for social | ||||||
12 | change; and
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13 | WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. married Coretta Scott | ||||||
14 | in 1953; the following year, he accepted the pastorate at | ||||||
15 | Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama; he | ||||||
16 | received his Ph.D. in systematic theology in 1955; and
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17 | WHEREAS, On December 5, 1955, after civil rights activist | ||||||
18 | Rosa Parks refused to comply with Montgomery, Alabama's | ||||||
19 | segregation policy on buses, African-American residents | ||||||
20 | launched a bus boycott; the group elected Dr. Martin Luther | ||||||
21 | King Jr. president of the newly-formed Montgomery Improvement | ||||||
22 | Association; the ensuing boycott continued throughout 1956, |
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1 | with Dr. King gaining national prominence for his role in the | ||||||
2 | campaign; in December of 1956, the United States Supreme Court | ||||||
3 | declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional and | ||||||
4 | Montgomery buses were desegregated, landing Dr. King his first | ||||||
5 | major civil rights victory; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Building upon the success in Montgomery, Dr. | ||||||
7 | Martin Luther King Jr. and other southern black ministers | ||||||
8 | founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in | ||||||
9 | 1957; in 1959, Dr. King toured India and further developed his | ||||||
10 | understanding of Gandhian nonviolent strategies; he resigned | ||||||
11 | from Dexter later that year, returning to Atlanta to become | ||||||
12 | co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father; and
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13 | WHEREAS, In the spring of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | ||||||
14 | and SCLC led mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, where | ||||||
15 | local white police officials were known for their violent | ||||||
16 | opposition to integration; clashes between unarmed black | ||||||
17 | demonstrators and police armed with dogs and fire hoses | ||||||
18 | generated newspaper headlines throughout the world; President | ||||||
19 | John F. Kennedy responded to the Birmingham protests by | ||||||
20 | submitting broad civil rights legislation to Congress, which | ||||||
21 | led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and | ||||||
22 | WHEREAS, Further civil rights mass demonstrations | ||||||
23 | culminated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on |
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1 | August 28, 1963, in which more than 250,000 protesters gathered | ||||||
2 | in Washington, D.C.; on that day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | ||||||
3 | delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of | ||||||
4 | the Lincoln Memorial; his renown continued to grow as he became | ||||||
5 | Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1963 and the recipient of | ||||||
6 | the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Undeterred by rival civil rights factions and | ||||||
8 | resistance from national political leaders, Dr. Martin Luther | ||||||
9 | King Jr. continued his march for freedom with his public | ||||||
10 | criticism of U.S. intervention in the Vietnam War, which led to | ||||||
11 | strained relations with President Lyndon Johnson's | ||||||
12 | administration; in late 1967, Dr. King initiated a Poor | ||||||
13 | People's Campaign designed to confront economic problems that | ||||||
14 | had not been addressed by earlier civil rights reforms; the | ||||||
15 | following year, while supporting striking sanitation workers | ||||||
16 | in Memphis, Tennessee, he delivered his final address, "I've | ||||||
17 | Been to the Mountaintop" ; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, On April 4, 1968, the day after delivering his | ||||||
19 | final speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed as | ||||||
20 | he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, | ||||||
21 | Tennessee; this tragic event marked the end of the life of this | ||||||
22 | great leader, yet did not destroy the movement he helped | ||||||
23 | create; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The intense effort and incredible sacrifices that | ||||||
2 | Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave in order to secure the basic | ||||||
3 | freedoms of all men and women must be honored in the greatest | ||||||
4 | fashion; therefore, be it
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5 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL | ||||||
6 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | ||||||
7 | CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate Route 20 within the Elgin | ||||||
8 | city limits as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway | ||||||
9 | in honor of this visionary leader; and be it further
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10 | RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation
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11 | is requested to erect at suitable locations, consistent with
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12 | State and federal regulations, appropriate plaques or signs
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13 | giving notice of the designation
of the Dr. Martin Luther King | ||||||
14 | Jr. Memorial Highway; and be it further | ||||||
15 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
16 | presented to the Elgin City Council, the Kane County Board, the | ||||||
17 | Secretary of
the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the | ||||||
18 | family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a symbol of our esteem | ||||||
19 | and respect.
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