HR1303 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1303 LRB093 24243 CSA 54455 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to the United States Congress and an inspirational advocate for women and minorities, passed away on January 1, 2005; and

WHEREAS, She was born Shirley St. Hill on November 30, 1924 in New York, and was the eldest of four daughters of a Guyanese father and a Barbadian mother; she grew up in Barbados, then returned to her native Brooklyn, New York, graduating from Brooklyn College in 1946; and

WHEREAS, While teaching nursery school and serving as director of the Friends Day Nursery in Brooklyn, she studied elementary education at Columbia University, where she received her master's degree in 1952; an education consultant for New York City's day-care division, she was also active with community and political groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and her district's Unity Democratic Club; and

WHEREAS, From 1964 to 1968, she represented her Brooklyn district in the New York state legislature; in 1968, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 1972, she won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race; and

WHEREAS, She was a founder of the National Women's Political Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus; throughout her congressional career, which lasted from 1969 to 1983, she supported the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights; she wrote the autobiographical works "Unbought and Unbossed" and "The Good Fight"; after her retirement from Congress, she was a sought-after lecturer; she also held the position of Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke College from 1983 to 1987, and was a visiting scholar at Spelman College in 1985; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Shirley Chisholm, a woman of great courage, a civil rights icon, and a champion of women and African Americans.