HR1512 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1512 LRB096 24439 KXB 44120 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Margaret Burroughs, a longtime Chicago Park District commissioner who started the nationally recognized DuSable Museum of African American History in the living room of her South Side home almost 50 years ago, who passed away on November 21, 2010; and

WHEREAS, She and her husband, the late Charles Burroughs, co-founded the DuSable Museum in 1961, and she was one of several artists and art supporters who 70 years ago started the South Side Community Art Center; and

WHEREAS, She was born in St. Rose, Louisiana, and moved to Chicago as a child; she attended the Chicago Teachers College and received bachelor's and master's degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago; she later received several honorary degrees; and

WHEREAS, She taught for more than 20 years at DuSable High School; she also taught at Kennedy-King College; in her early 20s, she joined several others in starting the South Side Community Art Center; she set up a legendary salon in Bronzeville, which attracted the likes of sociologist W.E.B. DuBois and writer James Baldwin; she was unhappy that there were few places for black artists to showcase their work, and helped launch an art fair in the late 1950s at a shopping center at 35th Street and King Drive; and

WHEREAS, She and her husband later planted the seeds for what would become a thriving museum with about 100 items in their living room, calling it the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art; today, the DuSable Museum, boasts a collection of more than 100,000 pieces in its Washington Park building; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Burroughs also helped start the National Conference of African-American Artists; she taught art and poetry to prison inmates; for the last 35 years, she and Reverend Jesse Jackson spent Christmas Day at the Cook County Jail; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Burroughs bowled and took up roller-skating in her 80s; in 1989, she was inducted into the Chicago Women's Hall of Fame; former President Jimmy Carter appointed her a member of the National Commission on African-American History and Culture; she won the Paul Robeson Award; most recently, Mrs. Burroughs received the Legacy Award from the Art Institute of Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Margaret Burroughs is survived by her son, Paul Burroughs; her grandson, Eric Toller; and three other grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with her family, friends, and the many people she has inspired over the years, the passing of Dr. Margaret Burroughs; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Dr. Margaret Burroughs as a symbol of our sincere sympathy.