Full Text of SR1164 99th General Assembly
SR1164 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of the Honorable Augustus Alexander "Gus" | 4 | | Savage of Chicago, Illinois; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Gus Savage was born in Detroit, Michigan on | 6 | | October 30, 1925, and his family moved to the South Side of | 7 | | Chicago 5 years later; he attended public schools in Chicago, | 8 | | graduating from Wendell Phillips High School in 1943; he later | 9 | | served in a segregated unit of the United States Army from 1943 | 10 | | to 1946, where the racial discrimination he witnessed | 11 | | contributed to his future radicalism; after he completed a tour | 12 | | of duty in World War II, he attended Roosevelt University in | 13 | | Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in | 14 | | 1951; after being enrolled in Chicago-Kent College of Law | 15 | | during 1952 and 1953, he changed his career to journalism in | 16 | | 1954; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, A lifelong civil rights advocate, Gus Savage | 18 | | fought against discrimination in housing, employment, and | 19 | | labor unions; in the 1960s, he chaired Chicago's South End | 20 | | Voters Conference and the Protest at the Polls; he also was the | 21 | | founder and chief strategist of the black political independent | 22 | | movement in the Midwest; he organized and participated in a | 23 | | series of protests, including one against the National Tea |
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| 1 | | Company (an advertiser in his newspapers) to draw attention to | 2 | | the company's poor record on minority hiring practices; he also | 3 | | played an important role in publicizing the brutal murder of | 4 | | Emmett Till by printing a photograph of the body of the | 5 | | 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago who was killed in | 6 | | Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman; the | 7 | | shocking photographs of the boy's dead body, first published by | 8 | | Savage in "The American Negro: A Magazine of Protest", as well | 9 | | as Jet and the Chicago Defender, caused a public outcry; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, From 1965 to 1980, Gus Savage was one of Chicago's | 11 | | most
influential black journalists; he was the owner, editor, | 12 | | and publisher of the Citizen
newspapers, a chain of community | 13 | | weeklies in the Chicago area; he became a forceful voice for | 14 | | equality and black
liberation, leading campaigns against the | 15 | | Chicago political
machine for equal housing access and civil | 16 | | rights; in 1977, he
managed Harold Washington's first | 17 | | unsuccessful bid for mayor,
and many credit him for paving the | 18 | | way for Washington's
successful bid 6 years later; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, In 1980, Gus Savage ascended to the United States | 20 | | House of Representatives as an outsider to elective politics, | 21 | | serving Illinois' Second District; during his decade in | 22 | | Congress, he continued to be a
strong voice for equality and | 23 | | minority advancement, serving as
Chairman of the House | 24 | | Subcommittee on Economic Development
and as Chairman of the |
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| 1 | | Minority Business Braintrust of the
Congressional Black | 2 | | Caucus; he also served on the House Committee on Small Business | 3 | | and on Public Works and Transportation; his primary concerns as | 4 | | a Representative focused on advancing the rights of | 5 | | African-Americans and improving conditions in his Chicago | 6 | | district; in 1986, he sponsored an amendment to the National | 7 | | Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987; a major | 8 | | legislative triumph, the amendment imposed the largest federal | 9 | | contract set-aside program in history on all military | 10 | | procurements, providing a possible $25 billion for | 11 | | minority-owned and controlled businesses and institutions and | 12 | | historically black colleges; in 1988, he sponsored legislation | 13 | | to build and name the new federal office building as the Ralph | 14 | | H. Metcalfe Building and urged the use of minority contractors | 15 | | for the expensive project; he also sponsored measures to reduce | 16 | | home mortgages in poor communities and fought to curb toxic | 17 | | pollution in his Chicago district; using his position in the | 18 | | House to highlight issues that he believed harmed | 19 | | African-Americans, the Chicago Representative joined his | 20 | | Congressional Black Caucus colleagues in criticizing President | 21 | | Ronald W. Reagan's economic agenda during the 1980s, referring | 22 | | to a 1981 administration proposal that included tax cuts for | 23 | | wealthy Americans and decreased federal spending for programs | 24 | | to assist the poor; he was also a proponent of increased | 25 | | American attention on Africa and toured the continent on | 26 | | several occasions, including congressional visits to Zimbabwe, |
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| 1 | | South Africa, Zaire, Somalia, Angola, and Kenya; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Gus Savage was preceded in death by his beloved | 3 | | wife, Eunice, in 1981; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Gus Savage is survived by his son, Thomas, and his | 5 | | wife, Judge Drella Savage; his daughter, Dr. Emma Savage-Davis; | 6 | | his grandchildren, Rev. Thomas Savage, Jr., Chyealla McBride | 7 | | and her husband, Christopher McBride, and Alexandria Davis; and | 8 | | his many other friends and relatives; therefore, be it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL | 10 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 11 | | Gus Savage and extend our sincere condolences to his family, | 12 | | friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further
| 13 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 14 | | presented to the family of Gus Savage as an expression of our | 15 | | deepest sympathy.
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