Full Text of HR1556 95th General Assembly
HR1556 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are pleased to congratulate Timuel D. Black, | 4 |
| Jr. on the occasion of being the recipient of the Legacy Award | 5 |
| from the Black United Fund of Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, Jr. was born in Birmingham, | 7 |
| Alabama; he moved to Chicago as a child and has lived there | 8 |
| since; he earned his bachelor's degree from Roosevelt | 9 |
| University and his master's degree from the University of | 10 |
| Chicago; and
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| WHEREAS, As a child, Timuel D. Black, Jr. was influenced by | 12 |
| the orators of the Washington Park Forum, such as Claude | 13 |
| Lightfoot and Ismael Flory, who spoke out against gouging | 14 |
| landlords and discrimination, making demands for jobs and | 15 |
| decent living conditions, and calling workers to unite and | 16 |
| stand up for their rights; after graduating, his first job as | 17 |
| an under-paid store clerk gave him his first experience with | 18 |
| labor union organizing, when he and his co-workers formed a | 19 |
| local chapter of the Retail Clerks Union; and
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| WHEREAS, Before having a chance to pursue further | 21 |
| education, Timuel D. Black, Jr. was drafted into the United | 22 |
| States Army during World War II; after enduring discrimination |
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| from the Army and witnessing the vast human devastation at the | 2 |
| Buchenwald extermination camp, he resolved to dedicate his life | 3 |
| to work for peace and justice; one of the achievements he is | 4 |
| most proud of is the work he performed with the Progressive | 5 |
| Party to end discrimination in the United States Armed Forces; | 6 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, Jr. served as a case worker with | 8 |
| the Chicago Department of Welfare's Children's Division from | 9 |
| 1952 until 1954 and worked in various community houses | 10 |
| throughout Gary, Indiana and Chicago, often integrating groups | 11 |
| at social and educational levels; he also served as Vice | 12 |
| President of the Board of Local Improvements for the City of | 13 |
| Chicago's Department of Public Works; and
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| WHEREAS, After returned from his service in the Army, | 15 |
| Timuel D. Black, Jr. continued his education and became a | 16 |
| teacher, teaching history and social studies at DuSable, | 17 |
| Dunbar, Roosevelt, Farragut, and Hyde Park High Schools for | 18 |
| over 40 years; as Assistant Coordinator of the National Teacher | 19 |
| Corps, he was responsible for the recruitment and training of | 20 |
| teachers who would work in neighborhood schools most in need of | 21 |
| quality teachers; fighting discrimination in the Chicago | 22 |
| school system, he joined with other teachers in the formation | 23 |
| of the Teachers Committee for Quality Education to ensure that | 24 |
| good schools were available to all children; and
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| WHEREAS, In addition to his work in the Chicago school | 2 |
| system, Timuel D. Black, Jr. also served as Dean at Wright | 3 |
| Junior College, Vice President of Olive Harvey City College, | 4 |
| Director of Community Affairs of the City Colleges of Chicago, | 5 |
| and Professor of anthropology, cultural anthropology, | 6 |
| sociology, and history at Harold Washington College; and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, Jr. is a prominent civil rights | 8 |
| activist and a noted historian; he is well known as a pioneer | 9 |
| in the independent black political movement and coined the | 10 |
| phrase "plantation politics"; he has spent much of his life | 11 |
| furthering the cause of social justice; he helped to organize | 12 |
| and served in the Chicago chapter of the Congress of Racial | 13 |
| Equality; he served as president of the local chapter of the | 14 |
| Negro American Labor Council, where he was chosen to organize | 15 |
| the Chicago contingent of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs | 16 |
| and Freedom; he also worked on the campaigns of Richard | 17 |
| Hatcher, the first black mayor of Gary, Indiana, and Harold | 18 |
| Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago; and
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| WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, Jr. is the author of Bridges of | 20 |
| Memory, an unprecedented collection of more than 150 interviews | 21 |
| that document the great wave of African-American migration to | 22 |
| Chicago; and |
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| WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, Jr.'s dedication to his | 2 |
| profession and his willingness to serve his community make him | 3 |
| a model for the people of the State of Illinois; therefore, be | 4 |
| it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 6 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 7 |
| congratulate Timuel D. Black, Jr. on the occasion of being the | 8 |
| recipient of the Legacy Award from the Black United Fund of | 9 |
| Illinois and wish him continued success and happiness in the | 10 |
| future; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 |
| presented to Timuel D. Black, Jr. as a symbol of our esteem and | 13 |
| respect.
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