SR0224 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0224 LRB098 11687 GRL 44310 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Harold Washington, a native son of Chicago, was born on April 15, 1922; he was a product of Chicago Public Schools, having attended Forestville Elementary and DuSable High Schools; and

WHEREAS, Harold Washington served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946; he served in the Pacific theatre during World War II; and

WHEREAS, In 1949, Harold Washington received his bachelor's degree from Roosevelt University, where he served as President of the Student Council and was a highly respected student leader; and

WHEREAS, Harold Washington served as the Secretary of the Third Ward Regular Democratic Organization for Alderman Ralph Metcalfe and helped to organize the Third Ward Young Democrats, which became one of the leading Young Democratic organizations in the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Harold Washington received his Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University Law School in 1952 and was admitted to the Bar in 1953; he later served as an Assistant City Prosecutor in Chicago from 1954 to 1958 and as an Arbitrator for the Illinois Industrial Commission from 1960 to 1964; and

WHEREAS, Harold Washington was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1965, where he served with distinction until he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1977; and

WHEREAS, During his tenure in the General Assembly, Harold Washington was the first legislator in the nation to organize a Black Legislative Caucus and to successfully pass a bill commemorating a holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; and

WHEREAS, In 1980, Harold Washington was elected to the United States Congress; during his time in Congress, he served on three House Committees, an unprecedented number for a freshman congressman; he also led the effort to secure a 10-year extension of the Voting Rights Act; and

WHEREAS, In 1983, Harold Washington was drafted by his community to run for the office of Mayor of the City of Chicago; he conducted a campaign in which his extensive vocabulary sent even the most articulate Chicago journalists running for the dictionary and won the election with a diverse coalition of support; and

WHEREAS, As Mayor of the City of Chicago, Harold Washington accomplished many positive achievements, including reducing the widespread practice of political patronage, establishing a functioning affirmative action program for minority businesses, and creating a women's affairs commission, a viable sister cities program, and several other initiatives, which improved all sections of the Chicago community; and

WHEREAS, Harold Washington was truly "the People's Mayor", whose memory is cherished by multitudes of ordinary citizens in Chicago and throughout the world; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we designate the date of April 15, 2013 as Harold Washington Day in the State of Illinois in honor of this great man and his many political and personal accomplishments.