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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the
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3 | Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the | ||||||
4 | death of renowned poet Maya Angelou, who passed away on May 28, | ||||||
5 | 2014; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, | ||||||
7 | Missouri on April 4, 1928 and raised in St. Louis and Stamps, | ||||||
8 | Arkansas; at age 13, she and her brother rejoined their mother | ||||||
9 | in San Francisco; she attended Mission High School and won a | ||||||
10 | scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor | ||||||
11 | School, where she was exposed to the progressive ideals that | ||||||
12 | animated her later political activism; she dropped out of | ||||||
13 | school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African | ||||||
14 | American female cable car conductor; she later returned to high | ||||||
15 | school, but became pregnant in her senior year, graduating a | ||||||
16 | few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy; she left home at | ||||||
17 | 16 and took on the difficult life of a single mother, | ||||||
18 | supporting herself and her son by working as a waitress and | ||||||
19 | cook, but she had not given up on her talents for music, dance, | ||||||
20 | performance, and poetry; in 1952, she began her career as a | ||||||
21 | nightclub singer, and took the professional name, Maya Angelou; | ||||||
22 | and
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23 | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou's performing career flourished; she |
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1 | toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess in | ||||||
2 | 1954 and 1955, studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced | ||||||
3 | with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows, and recorded her | ||||||
4 | first record album, Calypso Lady; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou had composed song lyrics and poems | ||||||
6 | for many years, and by the end of the 1950s was increasingly | ||||||
7 | interested in developing her skills as a writer; she moved to | ||||||
8 | New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and took | ||||||
9 | her place among the growing number of young black writers and | ||||||
10 | artists associated with the Civil Rights Movement; she acted in | ||||||
11 | the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks | ||||||
12 | and wrote and performed a Cabaret for Freedom with the actor | ||||||
13 | and comedian Godfrey Cambridge; and
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14 | WHEREAS, In 1960, May Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt and | ||||||
15 | served as editor of the English language weekly, The Arab | ||||||
16 | Observer; she and Guy later moved to Ghana, where she joined a | ||||||
17 | thriving group of African American expatriates; she served as | ||||||
18 | an instructor and assistant administrator at the University of | ||||||
19 | Ghana's School of Music and Drama, worked as feature editor for | ||||||
20 | The African Review, and wrote for The Ghanaian Times and the | ||||||
21 | Ghanaian Broadcasting Company; during her years abroad, she | ||||||
22 | read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, | ||||||
23 | Italian, Arabic, and the West African language Fanti; she met | ||||||
24 | with the American dissident leader Malcolm X in his visits to |
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1 | Ghana, and corresponded with him as his thinking evolved from | ||||||
2 | the racially polarized thinking of his youth to the more | ||||||
3 | inclusive vision of his maturity; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou returned to America in 1964, with the | ||||||
5 | intention of helping Malcolm X build his new Organization of | ||||||
6 | African American Unity; shortly after her arrival in the United | ||||||
7 | States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and his plans for a new | ||||||
8 | organization died with him; she involved herself in television | ||||||
9 | production and remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, | ||||||
10 | working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who | ||||||
11 | requested that she serve as Northern Coordinator for the | ||||||
12 | Southern Christian Leadership Conference; his assassination | ||||||
13 | left her devastated, but she found solace in writing, and began | ||||||
14 | work on the book that would become "I Know Why the Caged Bird | ||||||
15 | Sings", which tells the story of her life from her childhood in | ||||||
16 | Arkansas to the birth of her child; it was published in 1970 to | ||||||
17 | widespread critical acclaim and enormous popular success; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, Seemingly overnight, Maya Angelou became a | ||||||
19 | national figure; in the following years, books of her verse and | ||||||
20 | the subsequent volumes of her autobiographical narrative won | ||||||
21 | her a huge international audience; she was increasingly in | ||||||
22 | demand as a teacher and lecturer and continued to explore | ||||||
23 | dramatic forms as well; she wrote the screenplay and composed | ||||||
24 | the score for the film Georgia, Georgia (1972); her screenplay, |
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1 | the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was | ||||||
2 | nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; and | ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou has been invited by successive | ||||||
4 | Presidents of the United States to serve in various capacities; | ||||||
5 | President Ford appointed her to the American Revolution | ||||||
6 | Bicentennial Commission and President Carter invited her to | ||||||
7 | serve on the Presidential Commission for the International Year | ||||||
8 | of the Woman; President Clinton requested that she compose a | ||||||
9 | poem to read at his inauguration in 1993; her reading of her | ||||||
10 | poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around | ||||||
11 | the world; and | ||||||
12 | WHEREAS, Since 1981, Maya Angelou has served as Reynolds | ||||||
13 | Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in | ||||||
14 | Winston-Salem, North Carolina; she continued to appear on | ||||||
15 | television and in films including Poetic Justice (1993) and the | ||||||
16 | landmark television adaptation of Roots (1977) and she has | ||||||
17 | directed numerous dramatic and documentary programs on | ||||||
18 | television and her first feature film, Down in the Delta, in | ||||||
19 | 1996; the list of her published works now includes more than 30 | ||||||
20 | titles; and | ||||||
21 | WHEREAS, In 2000, Maya Angelou was honored with the | ||||||
22 | Presidential Medal of the Arts and she received the Ford's | ||||||
23 | Theatre Lincoln Medal in 2008; also in 2008, she narrated the |
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1 | award-winning documentary film The Black Candle and published a | ||||||
2 | book of guidance for young women, Letter to My Daughter; in | ||||||
3 | 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her the nation's highest | ||||||
4 | civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; therefore, | ||||||
5 | be it
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6 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
7 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
8 | we mourn the passing of Maya Angelou, a celebrated poet, | ||||||
9 | memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, | ||||||
10 | historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, and extend our | ||||||
11 | sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew | ||||||
12 | and loved her; and be it further
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13 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
14 | presented to the family of Maya Angelou as an expression of our | ||||||
15 | deepest sympathy.
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