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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are pleased to honor milestones in the lives of
4 citizens of the State of Illinois; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Timuel D. Black, venerable activist and historian
6 of Bronzeville, attained 90 years of age on December 7, 2008;
7 and
 
8     WHEREAS, Tim Black was influenced early on by the
9 Washington Park orators, who held their sessions across the
10 park from where he was an elementary school student; he heard
11 them speak against gouging landlords and discrimination; he
12 understood their calls for jobs and decent working conditions;
13 he watched them unite workers and tenants; and he resolved to
14 join them in backing up their convictions with organized
15 action; and
 
16     WHEREAS, He spent his high school years in the nurturing
17 and stimulating environment of Bronzeville's Wendell Phillips
18 and DuSable High Schools, where he learned from teachers that
19 served as models for his career as an educator; and
 
20     WHEREAS, Tim had his first job in high school as an
21 underpaid store clerk; he met J. Levert Kelly, President of the

 

 

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1 Waiters and Bartenders Union; Kelly helped Tim and his
2 co-workers form a local chapter of the Retail Clerks Union;
3 together they negotiated with their employers and won better
4 pay and working conditions; and
 
5     WHEREAS, He served our nation in World War II; he was
6 profoundly affected by the discrimination he experienced in the
7 Army and the human devastation he witnessed in the Buchenwald
8 death camp; he resolved to work for peace and justice in the
9 world; he went on to do work in the Progressive Party that
10 helped bring an end to discrimination in the Armed Services;
11 and
 
12     WHEREAS, He resumed his education after his discharge from
13 the Army; he received his BA from Roosevelt University and an
14 MA from the University of Chicago; he went on to teach history
15 and social studies at several of Chicago's high schools,
16 encouraging and inspiring his students; and
 
17     WHEREAS, He fought discrimination in Chicago schools and
18 joined with other teachers to form the Teachers Committee for
19 Quality Education to ensure that a good school would be
20 accessible to every child; and
 
21     WHEREAS, Tim Black served as Dean at Wright Junior College,
22 Vice-President of Olive Harvey City College, and Director of

 

 

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1 Community Affairs of the City Colleges of Chicago, working to
2 end discrimination in that system all the while; and
 
3     WHEREAS, In a continued fight against discrimination, Tim
4 Black and James Farmer organized the Chicago Chapter of the
5 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Tim became the president of
6 the local chapter of the Negro American Labor Council; he was
7 chosen to organize the Chicago contingent for the 1963 March on
8 Washington for Jobs and Freedom, resulting in two "Freedom
9 Trains" traveling with 3,000 passengers from Chicago to the
10 event; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Tim has been politically and socially active; he
12 worked in the campaign to elect Harold Washington, the first
13 Black mayor of Chicago; he also worked in the campaign of
14 Richard Hatcher, the first Black mayor of Gary, Indiana; and
 
15     WHEREAS, He continues his commitment to the Bronzeville
16 community and his understanding of the community's history,
17 people, and institutions; he works actively with the New
18 Phillips/DuSable 35-39ers, and the Mary Herrick Scholarship
19 fund; he is Vice President of the DuSable Alumni Coalition; he
20 serves on the boards of several civil rights organizations,
21 including the Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago and the
22 Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, When asked why he hasn't written a book to
2 chronicle his vast experiences, he replied, "I'm still too busy
3 living them"; therefore, be it
 
4     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
5 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
6 congratulate Timuel D. Black on his ninetieth birthday and wish
7 him many productive years in the future; and be it further
 
8     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
9 presented to Timuel D. Black as a sign of our affection,
10 gratitude, and respect.