| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate Delta Sigma Theta | ||||||
4 | Inc. on 100 years of service and the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae | ||||||
5 | Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority as it celebrates 40 | ||||||
6 | years of service to the Champaign, Urbana, Danville, and | ||||||
7 | Rantoul communities on December 15, 2013; and
| ||||||
8 | WHEREAS, The local centennial celebration and the 40th | ||||||
9 | anniversary of the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter will take | ||||||
10 | place on March 2, 2013; local programs include Building a | ||||||
11 | Healthy Community One Church at a Time, Delta Growing and | ||||||
12 | Empowering Myself Successfully, Adoption of the University of | ||||||
13 | Illinois Odyssey Project, Empowering Males to Build | ||||||
14 | Opportunities for Empowerment, Domestic Violence Initiatives, | ||||||
15 | Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Scholarships, and "We the People" | ||||||
16 | Political Awareness Events; the president of the | ||||||
17 | Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter is Ave M. Blackwell Alvarado; | ||||||
18 | and
| ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, Under the leadership of the 24th National | ||||||
20 | President, Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre, and through the | ||||||
21 | vision of the 22 founders, Delta Theta Sorority continues to | ||||||
22 | impact lives and make a difference in communities around the | ||||||
23 | world, guided by its biennial theme "Delta Sigma Theta-A |
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | Sisterhood Called to Serve: Transforming Lives, Impacting | ||||||
2 | Communities"; and
| ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, Founded on January 13, 1913, at Howard University, | ||||||
4 | Delta Sigma Theta has become the largest African-American | ||||||
5 | women's organization in the world; 200,000 women are members of | ||||||
6 | more than 1,000 chapters located in the U.S., England, Japan, | ||||||
7 | Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and South | ||||||
8 | Korea; one of the first public acts was their participation in | ||||||
9 | the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C. in March of | ||||||
10 | 1913; and
| ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, Some notable members of the sorority through the | ||||||
12 | years are Osceola Macarthy Adams, a founding member of Delta | ||||||
13 | Sigma Theta Sorority and the first black actress on Broadway; | ||||||
14 | Sadie T.M. Alexander, the nation's first woman to earn a Ph.D. | ||||||
15 | in economics and one of the founders of the National Bar | ||||||
16 | Association; Barbara Jordan, the first African-American to | ||||||
17 | serve in the U.S. congress from the south since reconstruction | ||||||
18 | and the first black woman to preside over a state senate; | ||||||
19 | Marcia L. Fudge, the 21st National President of Delta Sigma | ||||||
20 | Theta and current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; | ||||||
21 | Hazel Johnson Brown, the first African-American woman general | ||||||
22 | in the U.S. Army; Julianne Malveaux, the 15th president of | ||||||
23 | Bennett College; Winnie Mandela, the first black social worker | ||||||
24 | in South Africa and former leader of the African National |
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | Congress; Tina Allen, sculptor and painter; Selma Burke, | ||||||
2 | sculptor; Alexa Canady, the first black neurosurgeon in the | ||||||
3 | U.S.; Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman member of the | ||||||
4 | U.S. Congress and the first black woman to run as a major party | ||||||
5 | candidate for the presidency of the U.S.; the actress Ruby Dee | ||||||
6 | Davis; Myrlie Evers-Williams, chairman emerita of the board for | ||||||
7 | the NAACP; Frankie M. Freeman, the 14th National President of | ||||||
8 | Delta Sigma Theta and the first woman appointed to the Civil | ||||||
9 | Rights Commission; Patricia Robert Harris, the first black | ||||||
10 | woman to be appointed ambassador to a European country and to | ||||||
11 | be appointed to a presidential cabinet post; Dorothy I. Height, | ||||||
12 | the 10th National President of Delta Sigma Theta and president | ||||||
13 | of the National Council of Negro Women for over 40 years; | ||||||
14 | Alexis Herman, former Secretary of Labor; Darlene Clark Hine, | ||||||
15 | author and the first African-American to become the John A. | ||||||
16 | Hannah of History Endowed Chair at Michigan State University; | ||||||
17 | Elaine R. Jones, the first woman to serve as Director-Council | ||||||
18 | of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the first African-American | ||||||
19 | woman graduate of the University of Virginia Law School; Jewel | ||||||
20 | S. Lafontant, the first American woman to be admitted into the | ||||||
21 | International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the first female | ||||||
22 | Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.; and Mary Church Terrell, | ||||||
23 | the first African-American chosen to represent the U.S. | ||||||
24 | Congress of Women and to serve on the board of education of a | ||||||
25 | major city; and
|
| |||||||
| |||||||
1 | WHEREAS, Some other well-known members are Melissa Harris | ||||||
2 | Perry of MSNBC, Soledad O'Brien of CNN, Gwen Ifill of PBS, | ||||||
3 | singer Aretha Franklin, actress Cicely Tyson, actress and | ||||||
4 | HIV/AIDS activist Sheryl Lee Ralph, and poet Nikki Giovanni; | ||||||
5 | therefore, be it
| ||||||
6 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
7 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
8 | we congratulate Delta Sigma Theta Inc. on 100 years of service | ||||||
9 | and the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter as it celebrates 40 | ||||||
10 | years of service to the Champaign, Urbana, Danville, and | ||||||
11 | Rantoul communities; and be it further
| ||||||
12 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
13 | presented to the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter of the Delta | ||||||
14 | Sigma Theta Sorority as an expression of our esteem and | ||||||
15 | respect.
|