Full Text of HR0651 93rd General Assembly
HR0651 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR0651 |
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LRB093 14690 HSS 41647 r |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, It has come to the attention of the members of the | 3 |
| House of Representatives of the State of Illinois that a | 4 |
| celebration has been held in honor of the 100th birthday of the | 5 |
| late Colonel John C. Robinson Jr.; and
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| WHEREAS, John Charles Robinson Jr. was born on November 26, | 7 |
| 1903, in Carrabelle, Florida, to John Sr. and Celeste Robinson; | 8 |
| he was reared and schooled in Gulfport, Mississippi; he had one | 9 |
| sister, Bertha Robinson-Stokes; and | 10 |
| WHEREAS, Colonel Robinson was excited about airplanes from | 11 |
| the time that he saw his first one as a youngster near a port in | 12 |
| his hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi; after finishing high | 13 |
| school, he graduated with a diploma in Auto Mechanics in 1924 | 14 |
| from the University at Tuskegee; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, Colonel Robinson, through a turn of events, | 16 |
| attended Curtiss Wright Aviation University in Chicago with his | 17 |
| partner, famed African-American pioneer aviator Cornelius R. | 18 |
| Coffey; they were the first African-American men in the U.S. to | 19 |
| be trained and certified as pilots and airplane mechanics from | 20 |
| a government approved school of aviation; and | 21 |
| WHEREAS, The two men later cofounded and built the first | 22 |
| African-American airport in the United States in Robbins in | 23 |
| 1931; in 1934, he flew with his partner to Tuskegee Institute | 24 |
| in Alabama to introduce a plan to start an aviation program | 25 |
| there, which later developed into the famed Tuskegee Airmen; | 26 |
| and | 27 |
| WHEREAS, In 1935, Colonel Robinson went to Ethiopia to | 28 |
| become the personal pilot for H.R.H. Haile Selassie, the | 29 |
| Emperor of Ethiopia, and was made a full Colonel in charge of | 30 |
| flight training and mechanical training of the Ethiopian Air |
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HR0651 |
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LRB093 14690 HSS 41647 r |
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| Force; and | 2 |
| WHEREAS, In 1936, Colonel Robinson returned to Chicago and | 3 |
| became the personal pilot for Annie Turnbo-Malone, the | 4 |
| self-made multi-millionaire; Ms. Turnbo-Malone allowed Colonel | 5 |
| Robinson to use part of her property to house the private | 6 |
| "Robinson Aviation School", where he taught African-American | 7 |
| men and women the skills of flying airplanes and the mechanical | 8 |
| skills to build and maintain airplanes; | 9 |
| WHEREAS, In 1939, Colonel Robinson received advanced | 10 |
| training in mechanical aviation at Chanute Air Field in | 11 |
| Rantoul, where he also instructed some of the first | 12 |
| African-American students from Tuskegee in flying airplanes as | 13 |
| part of the now famous 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen); | 14 |
| and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, In 1941, at the request of Emperor Haile Selassie, | 16 |
| Colonel Robinson returned to Ethiopia with more than 30 | 17 |
| African-American pilots and mechanics to rebuild the country's | 18 |
| National Airport and its Air Force; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 20 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 21 |
| recognize the 100th birthday of the late Colonel John C. | 22 |
| Robinson, and we honor his many contributions as a pioneer | 23 |
| African-American pilot; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 25 |
| presented to the Robbins Historical Society and Museum as an | 26 |
| expression of our respect and esteem.
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