HR1682 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1682 LRB095 23290 KXB 53997 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to honor milestones in the lives of citizens of the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, venerable activist and historian of Bronzeville, attained 90 years of age on December 7, 2008; and

WHEREAS, Tim Black was influenced early on by the Washington Park orators, who held their sessions across the park from where he was an elementary school student; he heard them speak against gouging landlords and discrimination; he understood their calls for jobs and decent working conditions; he watched them unite workers and tenants; and he resolved to join them in backing up their convictions with organized action; and

WHEREAS, He spent his high school years in the nurturing and stimulating environment of Bronzeville's Wendell Phillips and DuSable High Schools, where he learned from teachers that served as models for his career as an educator; and

WHEREAS, Tim had his first job in high school as an underpaid store clerk; he met J. Levert Kelly, President of the Waiters and Bartenders Union; Kelly helped Tim and his co-workers form a local chapter of the Retail Clerks Union; together they negotiated with their employers and won better pay and working conditions; and

WHEREAS, He served our nation in World War II; he was profoundly affected by the discrimination he experienced in the Army and the human devastation he witnessed in the Buchenwald death camp; he resolved to work for peace and justice in the world; he went on to do work in the Progressive Party that helped bring an end to discrimination in the Armed Services; and

WHEREAS, He resumed his education after his discharge from the Army; he received his BA from Roosevelt University and an MA from the University of Chicago; he went on to teach history and social studies at several of Chicago's high schools, encouraging and inspiring his students; and

WHEREAS, He fought discrimination in Chicago schools and joined with other teachers to form the Teachers Committee for Quality Education to ensure that a good school would be accessible to every child; and

WHEREAS, Tim Black served as Dean at Wright Junior College, Vice-President of Olive Harvey City College, and Director of Community Affairs of the City Colleges of Chicago, working to end discrimination in that system all the while; and

WHEREAS, In a continued fight against discrimination, Tim Black and James Farmer organized the Chicago Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Tim became the president of the local chapter of the Negro American Labor Council; he was chosen to organize the Chicago contingent for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, resulting in two "Freedom Trains" traveling with 3,000 passengers from Chicago to the event; and

WHEREAS, Tim has been politically and socially active; he worked in the campaign to elect Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of Chicago; he also worked in the campaign of Richard Hatcher, the first Black mayor of Gary, Indiana; and

WHEREAS, He continues his commitment to the Bronzeville community and his understanding of the community's history, people, and institutions; he works actively with the New Phillips/DuSable 35-39ers, and the Mary Herrick Scholarship fund; he is Vice President of the DuSable Alumni Coalition; he serves on the boards of several civil rights organizations, including the Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago and the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights; and

WHEREAS, When asked why he hasn't written a book to chronicle his vast experiences, he replied, "I'm still too busy living them"; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Timuel D. Black on his ninetieth birthday and wish him many productive years in the future; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Timuel D. Black as a sign of our affection, gratitude, and respect.