HR0905 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0905 LRB100 21163 ALS 37200 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to recognize the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; and

WHEREAS, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968; and

WHEREAS, A Baptist minister and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Martin Luther King Jr. had led the civil rights movement since the mid-1950s, using a combination of impassioned speeches and nonviolent protests to fight segregation and achieve significant civil-rights advances for African Americans; and

WHEREAS, In the spring of 1968, while preparing for a planned march to Washington to lobby Congress on behalf of the poor, Martin Luther King Jr and other SCLC members were called to Memphis, Tennessee to support a sanitation workers' strike; the following day, he was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel when he was assassinated; and

WHEREAS, The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. sent shock waves around the world and led to an outpouring of anger among black Americans, as well as a period of national mourning that helped speed the way for an equal housing bill, a significant legislative achievement of the civil rights era; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and we honor his legacy as the most public face and most eloquent voice of the civil rights movement.