HR0134 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0134 LRB103 31258 LAW 58311 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to recognize David A. Strother's legacy on voting rights in the State of Illinois and the United States; and

WHEREAS, David A. Strother, once widely believed to have been the first Black man to vote in the United States as a result of the addition of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, was certainly the first to vote in Illinois on April 4, 1870; and

WHEREAS, David Strother was born to Henry and Leah in Lexington, Missouri on August 18, 1843, the son of slaves who bought their freedom; he worked as a cook's assistant on a Mississippi steamer; he served as a civilian cook with Company G, 17th Illinois Infantry, of the Union Army during the Civil War; at the urging of 44 local area men of Troop G, he settled in El Paso; he became a barber and set up a chair in the corner of an insurance and justice of the peace's office in January 1864; he was soon reunited with his mother and his brother, Charles, who joined him at his new barber shop; and

WHEREAS, El Paso then operated under a special charter approved by Governor Richard Oglesby in 1867; Article XV of the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect on March 30, 1870, stating that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; the following Monday, April 4, was El Paso's city election, held one day prior to almost all others; and

WHEREAS, David Strother, accompanied to the polls by Mayor James Wathen, was initially rebuffed by election officials unaware of the new law; after election judges were shown a copy of the amendment, he returned to the polls at the judges' behest, where apologies were made; he proceeded to cast his vote, and his brother voted soon after; and

WHEREAS, News of David Strother's historic vote was spread by Gersh Martin, El Paso's newspaper editor, who telegraphed the news to the Associated Press, and soon people all over the United States were reading about the barber who had cast the then believed first Black vote; and

WHEREAS, David Strother continued to live in El Paso for the remainder of his life, passing shortly after suffering a heart attack on March 12, 1905; his loss was keenly felt by the El Paso community, who remembered him for his generosity and gentlemanly conduct; and

WHEREAS, David Strother's vote on April 4, 1870 marked him as not only one of the first Black men to vote in the United States but also marked a milestone on the path to equality for our State and the country; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize David Strother's legacy on voting rights in the State of Illinois and the United States.