Full Text of HR0807 103rd General Assembly
HR0807 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | HR0807 | | LRB103 40754 LAW 73577 r |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION | 2 | | WHEREAS, John Robert Lewis was born to Willie Mae (Carter) | 3 | | and Eddie Lewis near Troy, Alabama on February 21, 1940; as a | 4 | | child, he was affectionately known as "Preacher" and insisted | 5 | | on attending school daily, defying his parents' instructions | 6 | | to work the family farm, establishing his lifelong commitment | 7 | | to education and enlightenment; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, As a high school student, John Lewis intensely | 9 | | followed the progress of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 | 10 | | and 1956; inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he preached | 11 | | his first public sermon, entitled "A Praying Mother", at | 12 | | Macedonia Baptist Church in Troy, Alabama on February 16, | 13 | | 1956; later that year, he joined the NAACP; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, While a student at the American Baptist | 15 | | Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, John Lewis was a | 16 | | founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating | 17 | | Committee (SNCC), organizing sit-ins at segregated lunch | 18 | | counters and pushing Nashville to become the first major city | 19 | | in the South to begin the desegregation of public facilities; | 20 | | after graduating in 1961, he was subsequently ordained as a | 21 | | Baptist minister; and | 22 | | WHEREAS, In 1961, John Lewis became one of the 13 original |
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| 1 | | Freedom Riders, challenging segregated interstate travel | 2 | | throughout the South; two years later, at just 23 years old, he | 3 | | helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he | 4 | | witnessed Dr. King deliver his famous "I Have a Dream" speech; | 5 | | that same year, as chair of the SNCC, he proceeded to move to | 6 | | Atlanta, Georgia; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, John Lewis led demonstrations against racially | 8 | | segregated hotels, restrooms, swimming pools, and public | 9 | | parks, for which he was brutally beaten, left unconscious in | 10 | | his own blood, and arrested 40 times, spending countless | 11 | | nights in county jails and 37 days in Parchman Penitentiary; | 12 | | and | 13 | | WHEREAS, On March 7, 1965, on what would become known as | 14 | | Bloody Sunday, John Lewis led 600 peaceful demonstrators who | 15 | | were demanding their right to vote while marching across the | 16 | | Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; he and demonstrators | 17 | | were met with violence and police brutality, and he suffered a | 18 | | fractured skull; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, After televised images of the Bloody Sunday | 20 | | violence in Selma shocked the conscience of the United States, | 21 | | President Lyndon B. Johnson called for equal voting rights | 22 | | legislation before a joint session of Congress, which evolved | 23 | | into his signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. |
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| 1 | | 10301 et seq.) on August 6, 1965; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, John Lewis married Lillian Miles on December 21, | 3 | | 1968, and she was his best friend, closest ally, and most | 4 | | steadfast supporter until her death on December 31, 2012; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, In 1970, John Lewis became director of the Voter | 6 | | Education Project, which added nearly 4,000,000 minority | 7 | | voters to the voter rolls, changing the political landscape of | 8 | | the United States forever; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, In 1977, John Lewis was appointed by President | 10 | | Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, | 11 | | which was then a federal volunteer agency; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, In 1981, John Lewis won elected office for the | 13 | | first time as an at-large councilman on the Atlanta City | 14 | | Council, where he was a powerful advocate for ethics and | 15 | | neighborhood preservation; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, In 1982, John Lewis worked with the American | 17 | | Jewish Committee to found the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition, | 18 | | part of his decades-long friendship and alliance with the | 19 | | Jewish community of Georgia, which later led to the | 20 | | establishment of the Congressional Black-Jewish caucus; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In 1986, John Lewis became the second African | 2 | | American to represent Georgia in the United States Congress | 3 | | since Reconstruction, ultimately serving in Congress for over | 4 | | three decades; during his tenure, he fought for the passage of | 5 | | the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-166; 105 Stat. | 6 | | 1071), which was signed into law by President George H.W. | 7 | | Bush, secured authorization for construction of the National | 8 | | Museum of African American History and Culture on the National | 9 | | Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2003, and introduced the Emmett | 10 | | Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007 (28 U.S.C. 509 | 11 | | note; Public Law 110-344) to investigate unsolved civil rights | 12 | | crimes, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush | 13 | | in 2008; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, John Lewis was the recipient of a number of | 15 | | accolades, including being awarded the John F. Kennedy Library | 16 | | Foundation Profile in Courage Award for his extraordinary | 17 | | courage, leadership, and commitment to civil rights in 2001 | 18 | | and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest | 19 | | civilian honor in the United States, by President Barack Obama | 20 | | in 2011; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, On July 17, 2020, John Lewis passed away, | 22 | | devastating his family, his staff, the City of Atlanta, the | 23 | | State of Georgia, and the people of the United States, who | 24 | | united to honor his monumental legacy of hard work and |
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| 1 | | self-sacrifice in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all; | 2 | | and | 3 | | WHEREAS, John Lewis was known as the "conscience of the | 4 | | Congress" for his relentless pursuit of justice, his | 5 | | unflinching commitment to building a society without poverty, | 6 | | racism, or violence, and his willingness to make what he | 7 | | called "good trouble, necessary trouble" to confront acts of | 8 | | injustice; therefore, be it | 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 10 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 11 | | we declare February 21, 2024 as John Lewis Day in the State of | 12 | | Illinois to honor the life and legacy of American hero and | 13 | | civil rights leader John Robert Lewis. |
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