HR0730 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0730 LRB104 21174 LAW 35588 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of civil rights leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., who passed away on March 5, 2026; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette played a pivotal role in civil rights and voting activism in the 1960s and beyond; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette's activism began at age 12, when he joined the NAACP after watching the abuse his grandmother endured on a segregated bus; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at age 19 in 1960, continuing his activism past high school; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette roomed with civil rights trailblazer and future U.S. Representative John Lewis while attending American Baptist Theological Seminary, known today as American Baptist College, where the pair joined the Freedom Riders shortly thereafter, becoming two of more than 300 Freedom Riders beaten and taken to Parchman Prison, also known as Mississippi State Penitentiary, in 1961; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was named director of the Alabama Voter Registration Campaign at age 22 in 1963; that same year, he survived an assassination attempt, imploring an armed neighbor trying to intervene to not shoot his attempted assassin, a testament to his deep belief in nonviolence; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette began expanding his activism to Illinois when he was recruited to the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago in 1964; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was in Chicago when hundreds of protesters were attacked in Selma, Alabama during Bloody Sunday in 1965; undeterred, he organized a group to bus from Chicago to Selma to continue protesting a few weeks later; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette joined the Chicago Freedom Movement's Action Committee in 1966, working to end slums and improve housing opportunities for Black Americans; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was appointed as director of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign in 1968 shortly before Dr. King's assassination; he spent time with Dr. King on the morning of his assassination, whose last words to him were about institutionalizing and internationalizing nonviolence, which became the focus of his life's work; and

WHEREAS, Upon Dr. King's assassination, Dr. LaFayette returned to American Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his bachelor's degree, and he proceeded to earn his Master and Doctor of Education from Harvard University; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette held countless leadership positions throughout his career, including serving as national program director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, director of Peace and Justice in Latin America, and dean of the graduate school at Alabama State University; no matter his position, he continued his nonviolent teachings, research, and activism across many platforms nationwide and internationally; and

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette will be remembered for fighting for equity and peaceful protest as part of his lifelong commitment to civil rights and nonviolence; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of civil rights leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr. and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Dr. LaFayette as an expression of our deepest sympathy.