Full Text of HR0134 103rd General Assembly
HR0134 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to recognize David A. Strother's legacy | 4 | | on voting rights in the State of Illinois and the United | 5 | | States; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, David A. Strother, once widely believed to have | 7 | | been the first Black man to vote in the United States as a | 8 | | result of the addition of the Fifteenth Amendment to the | 9 | | Constitution, was certainly the first to vote in Illinois on | 10 | | April 4, 1870; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, David Strother was born to Henry and Leah in | 12 | | Lexington, Missouri on August 18, 1843, the son of slaves who | 13 | | bought their freedom; he worked as a cook's assistant on a | 14 | | Mississippi steamer; he served as a civilian cook with Company | 15 | | G, 17th Illinois Infantry, of the Union Army during the Civil | 16 | | War; at the urging of 44 local area men of Troop G, he settled | 17 | | in El Paso; he became a barber and set up a chair in the corner | 18 | | of an insurance and justice of the peace's office in January | 19 | | 1864; he was soon reunited with his mother and his brother, | 20 | | Charles, who joined him at his new barber shop; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, El Paso then operated under a special charter | 22 | | approved by Governor Richard Oglesby in 1867; Article XV of |
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| 1 | | the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect on March 30, | 2 | | 1870, stating that the right of citizens to vote shall not be | 3 | | denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of | 4 | | servitude; the following Monday, April 4, was El Paso's city | 5 | | election, held one day prior to almost all others; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, David Strother, accompanied to the polls by Mayor | 7 | | James Wathen, was initially rebuffed by election officials | 8 | | unaware of the new law; after election judges were shown a copy | 9 | | of the amendment, he returned to the polls at the judges' | 10 | | behest, where apologies were made; he proceeded to cast his | 11 | | vote, and his brother voted soon after; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, News of David Strother's historic vote was spread | 13 | | by Gersh Martin, El Paso's newspaper editor, who telegraphed | 14 | | the news to the Associated Press, and soon people all over the | 15 | | United States were reading about the barber who had cast the | 16 | | then believed first Black vote; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, David Strother continued to live in El Paso for | 18 | | the remainder of his life, passing shortly after suffering a | 19 | | heart attack on March 12, 1905; his loss was keenly felt by the | 20 | | El Paso community, who remembered him for his generosity and | 21 | | gentlemanly conduct; and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, David Strother's vote on April 4, 1870 marked him |
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| 1 | | as not only one of the first Black men to vote in the United | 2 | | States but also marked a milestone on the path to equality for | 3 | | our State and the country; therefore, be it
| 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 5 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 6 | | we recognize David Strother's legacy on voting rights in the | 7 | | State of Illinois and the United States.
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