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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of the Honorable Augustus Alexander "Gus"
4Savage of Chicago, Illinois; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Gus Savage was born in Detroit, Michigan on
6October 30, 1925, and his family moved to the South Side of
7Chicago 5 years later; he attended public schools in Chicago,
8graduating from Wendell Phillips High School in 1943; he later
9served in a segregated unit of the United States Army from 1943
10to 1946, where the racial discrimination he witnessed
11contributed to his future radicalism; after he completed a tour
12of duty in World War II, he attended Roosevelt University in
13Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in
141951; after being enrolled in Chicago-Kent College of Law
15during 1952 and 1953, he changed his career to journalism in
161954; and
 
17    WHEREAS, A lifelong civil rights advocate, Gus Savage
18fought against discrimination in housing, employment, and
19labor unions; in the 1960s, he chaired Chicago's South End
20Voters Conference and the Protest at the Polls; he also was the
21founder and chief strategist of the black political independent
22movement in the Midwest; he organized and participated in a
23series of protests, including one against the National Tea

 

 

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1Company (an advertiser in his newspapers) to draw attention to
2the company's poor record on minority hiring practices; he also
3played an important role in publicizing the brutal murder of
4Emmett Till by printing a photograph of the body of the
514-year-old African-American boy from Chicago who was killed in
6Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman; the
7shocking photographs of the boy's dead body, first published by
8Savage in "The American Negro: A Magazine of Protest", as well
9as Jet and the Chicago Defender, caused a public outcry; and
 
10    WHEREAS, From 1965 to 1980, Gus Savage was one of Chicago's
11most influential black journalists; he was the owner, editor,
12and publisher of the Citizen newspapers, a chain of community
13weeklies in the Chicago area; he became a forceful voice for
14equality and black liberation, leading campaigns against the
15Chicago political machine for equal housing access and civil
16rights; in 1977, he managed Harold Washington's first
17unsuccessful bid for mayor, and many credit him for paving the
18way for Washington's successful bid 6 years later; and
 
19    WHEREAS, In 1980, Gus Savage ascended to the United States
20House of Representatives as an outsider to elective politics,
21serving Illinois' Second District; during his decade in
22Congress, he continued to be a strong voice for equality and
23minority advancement, serving as Chairman of the House
24Subcommittee on Economic Development and as Chairman of the

 

 

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1Minority Business Braintrust of the Congressional Black
2Caucus; he also served on the House Committee on Small Business
3and on Public Works and Transportation; his primary concerns as
4a Representative focused on advancing the rights of
5African-Americans and improving conditions in his Chicago
6district; in 1986, he sponsored an amendment to the National
7Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987; a major
8legislative triumph, the amendment imposed the largest federal
9contract set-aside program in history on all military
10procurements, providing a possible $25 billion for
11minority-owned and controlled businesses and institutions and
12historically black colleges; in 1988, he sponsored legislation
13to build and name the new federal office building as the Ralph
14H. Metcalfe Building and urged the use of minority contractors
15for the expensive project; he also sponsored measures to reduce
16home mortgages in poor communities and fought to curb toxic
17pollution in his Chicago district; using his position in the
18House to highlight issues that he believed harmed
19African-Americans, the Chicago Representative joined his
20Congressional Black Caucus colleagues in criticizing President
21Ronald W. Reagan's economic agenda during the 1980s, referring
22to a 1981 administration proposal that included tax cuts for
23wealthy Americans and decreased federal spending for programs
24to assist the poor; he was also a proponent of increased
25American attention on Africa and toured the continent on
26several occasions, including congressional visits to Zimbabwe,

 

 

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1South Africa, Zaire, Somalia, Angola, and Kenya; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Gus Savage was preceded in death by his beloved
3wife, Eunice, in 1981; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Gus Savage is survived by his son, Thomas, and his
5wife, Judge Drella Savage; his daughter, Dr. Emma Savage-Davis;
6his grandchildren, Rev. Thomas Savage, Jr., Chyealla McBride
7and her husband, Christopher McBride, and Alexandria Davis; and
8his many other friends and relatives; therefore, be it
 
9    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
10ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
11Gus Savage and extend our sincere condolences to his family,
12friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
14presented to the family of Gus Savage as an expression of our
15deepest sympathy.