Full Text of SR0224 98th General Assembly
SR0224 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Harold Washington, a native son of Chicago, was | 3 | | born on April 15, 1922; he was a product of Chicago Public | 4 | | Schools, having attended Forestville Elementary and DuSable | 5 | | High Schools; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Harold Washington served in the United States Army | 7 | | Air Forces from 1942 to 1946; he served in the Pacific theatre | 8 | | during World War II; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, In 1949, Harold Washington received his | 10 | | bachelor's degree from Roosevelt University, where he served as | 11 | | President of the Student Council and was a highly respected | 12 | | student leader; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Harold Washington served as the Secretary of the | 14 | | Third Ward Regular Democratic Organization for Alderman Ralph | 15 | | Metcalfe and helped to organize the Third Ward Young Democrats, | 16 | | which became one of the leading Young Democratic organizations | 17 | | in the State of Illinois; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Harold Washington received his Juris Doctor | 19 | | degree from Northwestern University Law School in 1952 and was | 20 | | admitted to the Bar in 1953; he later served as an Assistant | 21 | | City Prosecutor in Chicago from 1954 to 1958 and as an |
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| 1 | | Arbitrator for the Illinois Industrial Commission from 1960 to | 2 | | 1964; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Harold Washington was elected to the Illinois | 4 | | House of Representatives in 1965, where he served with | 5 | | distinction until he was elected to the Illinois Senate in | 6 | | 1977; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, During his tenure in the General Assembly, Harold | 8 | | Washington was the first legislator in the nation to organize a | 9 | | Black Legislative Caucus and to successfully pass a bill | 10 | | commemorating a holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; | 11 | | and | 12 | | WHEREAS, In 1980, Harold Washington was elected to the | 13 | | United States Congress; during his time in Congress, he served | 14 | | on three House Committees, an unprecedented number for a | 15 | | freshman congressman; he also led the effort to secure a | 16 | | 10-year extension of the Voting Rights Act; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, In 1983, Harold Washington was drafted by his | 18 | | community to run for the office of Mayor of the City of | 19 | | Chicago; he conducted a campaign in which his extensive | 20 | | vocabulary sent even the most articulate Chicago journalists | 21 | | running for the dictionary and won the election with a diverse | 22 | | coalition of support; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, As Mayor of the City of Chicago, Harold Washington | 2 | | accomplished many positive achievements, including reducing | 3 | | the widespread practice of political patronage, establishing a | 4 | | functioning affirmative action program for minority | 5 | | businesses, and creating a women's affairs commission, a viable | 6 | | sister cities program, and several other initiatives, which | 7 | | improved all sections of the Chicago community; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Harold Washington was truly "the People's Mayor", | 9 | | whose memory is cherished by multitudes of ordinary citizens in | 10 | | Chicago and throughout the world; therefore, be it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL | 12 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we designate the date | 13 | | of April 15, 2013 as Harold Washington Day in the State of | 14 | | Illinois in honor of this great man and his many political and | 15 | | personal accomplishments.
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