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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to recognize Delta Sigma Theta
4Sorority Incorporated on the occasion of its 100th anniversary;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated is the
7single-largest predominantly African-American women's
8organization in the nation and the only African-American
9women's organization to participate in the Women's Suffrage
10March of 1913; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The sorority was founded on January 13, 1913, on
12the Howard University campus by 22 young women hoping to make
13strides in community service and education; Delta Sigma Theta
14Sorority has amassed a membership of over 250,000
15college-educated, esteemed and accomplished women, and has 900
16chapters both in the U.S. and around the world; many of these
17women are distinguished trailblazers in their industry and
18well-known famous faces in education, television, film,
19politics, public service, civic engagement, medicine, science,
20entrepreneurship, and more; Delta women have marched for
21women's suffrage and participated on the public policy stage in
22state legislatures across the country and at the nation's
23capital; they have hosted countless mentorship and service

 

 

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1programs in an effort to create change in their community; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Members have included activists Mary McLeod
3Bethune and Dorothy Height and congresswomen Shirley Chisholm
4and Barbara Jordan; other notable members include poet Nikki
5Giovanni, Marian Wright Edelman, journalists Gwen Ifill and
6Soledad 0'Brien, singers Aretha Franklin, Lena Horne, Leontyne
7Price, and Roberta Flack, and actresses Cicely Tyson and Ruby
8Dee, and others including Alexis Herman, Camille Cosby, Betty
9Shabzz, and many other notable women's history makers and
10household names; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Over the past 100 years, Delta Chapter's across
12the globe have developed rich programs that initiate social
13change and advocacy, encourage academic excellence, and
14elevate cultural awareness, based on the organization's Five
15Point Programmatic Thrust: Economic Development, International
16Awareness and Involvement, Physical and Mental Health, and
17Political Awareness and Involvement; the impressive efforts of
18the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority founders can be seen and felt
19across the country and the world; and
 
20    WHEREAS, A year-long celebration, 22-city tour of the Delta
21Torch, which symbolizes the "passion and commitment to the
22organization's global reach", which kicked off in Los Angeles
23with Delta's historic participation in the 2013 Tournament of

 

 

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1Roses Parade and will continue through Seattle, Dallas, Little
2Rock, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Charlotte, New York City, and
3Baltimore; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The tour will culminate in Washington, D.C. at the
551st national convention which is scheduled for July 11-17,
62013, when the torch is passed to the national president,
7signifying the start of the organizations national convention;
8therefore, be it
 
9    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
10NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
11we recognize the 100th anniversary of the founding of Delta
12Sigma Theta Sorority and we pay honor to those women who have
13blazed the trail and led us to this exciting point in history;
14and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
16presented to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority as an expression of our
17esteem and respect.