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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Sam Ackerman of Hyde Park, who passed
4 away on May 1, 2009; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Sam Ackerman began his career as an activist early
6 in his life, organizing interfaith gatherings and meetings of
7 black and white students during his years as a high school
8 student in Stamford, Connecticut in the early 1950s; and
 
9     WHEREAS, After high school, Sam Ackerman moved on to
10 Cornell University, where he worked to fight housing
11 discrimination and became active in student politics; during
12 his time at Cornell, he met his first wife, Carol
13 June-Washington, whom he married in 1954; he then took a job at
14 the federal Civil Service Commission, where he had some
15 difficulty getting a security clearance because of a letter he
16 had written to the Cornell student newspaper supporting folk
17 singer Pete Seeger's right to perform on campus; and
 
18     WHEREAS, By the 1960s, Sam Ackerman had found his lifelong
19 home in Hyde Park; he helped organize a Chicago contingent for
20 the 1963 March on Washington and his five children grew up
21 going to marches and rallies; in 1970, he married his second
22 wife, Martha; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, After he helped Harold Washington to become the
2 city's first black mayor of Chicago, Sam Ackerman landed his
3 second government job as Chicago's deputy director for
4 personnel; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Sam Ackerman was a leader in the Independent
6 Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization; he was
7 also elected to the local school council at Kenwood Academy
8 High School and worked on campaigns for U.S. Representative
9 Danny Davis and U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun; he was
10 involved in the Hyde Park Jazz Society; he also helped launch
11 his community's December 31 Neighbor's Eve celebrations and,
12 for years, held New Year's Day gatherings in his spacious condo
13 that attracted as many as 150 people who came for his homemade
14 eggnog; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Sam Ackerman is survived by his sons, Joseph and
16 David; his daughters, Valerie, Jodie, and Anna; his brother and
17 sister; and his nine grandchildren; therefore, be it
 
18     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
19 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
20 his family and friends, the passing of Sam Ackerman; and be it
21 further
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2 presented to the family of Sam Ackerman as an expression of our
3 sympathy.