HR1287 LRB094 20472 HSS 58708 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Throughout their lives, the Reverend Doctors
3 Claude and Addie Wyatt have continuously worked in the service
4 of others; and
 
5     WHEREAS, For 45 years, Rev. Dr. Claude Wyatt's concern for
6 the total community involved a ministry in education and
7 training, social action, and a caring ministry that gave itself
8 to heavy counseling and guidance to families, marriages, youth,
9 and particularly those who lived in economic and social
10 despair; he has been responsible for rehabilitating alcoholics
11 and drug addicts, working with youth, gangs, and juveniles in
12 trouble; he has also served as a constituent for Urban
13 Ministries for the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana; and
 
14     WHEREAS, In 1955, Rev. Dr. Claude Wyatt and Rev. Dr. Addie
15 Wyatt and a small group of people founded the Vernon Park
16 Church of God; today, the church has a membership of well over
17 1,000; and
 
18     WHEREAS, Together, the Wyatts worked closely with the late
19 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1956 to 1968; they participated
20 in the major civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama,
21 Washington, D.C., and Chicago; Rev. Claude Wyatt served as
22 Chicago Director of the Ministerial Leadership Training
23 Program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; the
24 Wyatt's served as founders of Operation Breadbasket and
25 founders and board members of Operation PUSH; and
 
26     WHEREAS, The Blackbook Business and National Publication
27 Agency named Rev. Claude Wyatt as one of its Ten Outstanding
28 Business and Professional Persons; in November of 1989, he was
29 inducted into the DuSable Umbrella Alumni Hall of Fame; and
 
30     WHEREAS, From 1941 to 1954, Rev. Dr. Addie Wyatt was

 

 

HR1287 - 2 - LRB094 20472 HSS 58708 r

1 employed in the meatpacking industry and, because of her
2 experiences there, she served for the next 30 years in various
3 capacities with AFL-CIO-affiliated unions; in addition to her
4 work for organized labor, she has been nationally recognized
5 for her groundbreaking work in women's rights on the Equal
6 Rights Amendment and the Equal Pay for Equal Work campaign;
7 Eleanor Roosevelt appointed her to serve on John F. Kennedy's
8 Commission on the Status of Women; in 1975, Time magazine named
9 her as one of twelve Women of the Year and she had the same
10 distinction bestowed upon her in 1977 by the Ladies Home
11 Journal; she was a founding member of the National Organization
12 of Women and the Coalition of Labor Union Women; President
13 Jimmy Carter appointed her to the International Women's
14 Commission of the United Nations and she addressed the American
15 Women's Conference in Houston, Texas; Ebony magazine hailed her
16 as one of the "100 Most Influential Black Americans", and she
17 has consulted with countless political leaders at all levels;
18 and
 
19     WHEREAS, In 1999, the Claude and Addie Wyatt Community and
20 Family Life Center was dedicated and serves as a living
21 landmark to the Wyatts' life and ministry; therefore, be it
 
22     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
23 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
24 we recognize and commend the Reverend Doctors Claude and Addie
25 Wyatt, for their spiritual contributions, dedication,
26 guidance, and spreading God's word to the community, and for
27 their tireless devotion to equality and justice for all; and be
28 it further
 
29     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
30 presented to the Reverend Doctors Claude and Addie Wyatt.