SR0698 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0698 LRB097 21006 KXB 68295 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Reverend Addie Wyatt, who passed away on March 28, 2012; and

WHEREAS, She married the late Reverend Dr. Claude Wyatt on May 12, 1940; they were married for 69 years; during that time, they founded and co-pastored the Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago and had 2 sons, Claude S. Wyatt and Renaldo Wyatt; and

WHEREAS, She was born on March 28, 1924 in Brookhaven, Mississippi to Ambrose and Maggie Cameron and was a personal friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; she came to Chicago in 1930, when she was 6 years old, and when her mother died, she raised her siblings; and

WHEREAS, She tried out for a typist job but was told she failed the test, so she began working at a meat packing company in 1941, where she worked until 1953; once there, she was elected vice president of the United Packinghouse Workers of America Local 56; she was the first African-American to hold such a high labor union position; she went on to become the director of the Women's Affairs and Human Rights Departments of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters; and

WHEREAS, In the 1960s, Eleanor Roosevelt honored her leadership skills by appointing her to a position on the Protective Labor Legislation Committee of the United States Commission on the Status of Women; in the 1970s, she held a powerful position in the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and in 1974, she founded the Coalition of Labor Union Women; in 1976, she became the international vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers; and

WHEREAS, She and her husband always took time to give back to the community, especially with their civil rights work; she was ordained in 1955 as a Church of God minister; her husband was also ordained in the same faith; together they worked with Dr. King, including at the March on Washington, the march from Selma to Montgomery, and at other civil rights events; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Wyatt was a founder and board member of Operation Breadbasket; she also worked very closely with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as an advisor; she and her husband founded the Wyatt Choral Ensemble in 1944; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Wyatt is survived by her son, Claude, and numerous grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with her family and friends, the passing of Reverend Addie Wyatt; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Reverend Addie Wyatt as a symbol of our sincere sympathy.