HR0663 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0663 LRB104 20764 MST 34268 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, February 2026 marks the historic 100th anniversary of the formal establishment of Black history commemorations in the United States, a milestone that honors the resilience, brilliance, and enduring contributions of African Americans to the fabric of our nation and the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The origins of this observance trace back to 1915 when historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who earned his master's degree from the University of Chicago, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) to research, promote, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information about the life, history, and culture of people of African descent; and

WHEREAS, In February 1926, Dr. Woodson launched Negro History Week, strategically choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two monumental symbols of American freedom; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Woodson's vision was never intended to limit the study of Black history to a single week but rather to serve as a stepping stone toward the year-round integration of Black achievements into the American story, famously stating, "If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated."; and

WHEREAS, This weeklong observance evolved through the 1960s amid the Civil Rights Movement and was expanded to become Black History Month in 1976 with the support of President Gerald Ford, who urged Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans"; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has been a central stage for this history as the home of several innovators and pioneers, particularly in the arts, business, journalism, and public service, including:

(1) Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, known as the "Father of Chicago", for becoming the first permanent non-Indigenous settler of Chicago;

(2) Priscilla Baltimore, who, with the assistance of other families escaping slavery, founded the town of Brooklyn, which became an active center in the network known as the Underground Railroad, assisting other African Americans escaping enslavement, and later the first incorporated Black town in the United States;

(3) Annie Turnbo Malone, born in Metropolis to formerly enslaved parents, who turned her interest and passion for styling hair into a business that developed hair products for Black women and who later founded Poro College in St. Louis, which trained Madam C.J. Walker, who used her education and training at Poro to manufacture hair and beauty products for African Americans and become the first self-made female millionaire in the United States;

(4) John W.E. Thomas, the first Black state legislator in Illinois, who served in the Illinois House of Representatives;

(5) Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, pioneering medical doctor who performed the first successful open heart surgery in the United States in Chicago and who founded Provident Hospital, the first Black-owned and operated hospital in the United States and the first hospital in the United States to racially integrate patients and staff;

(6) Ida B. Wells, a fearless, Chicago-based investigative journalist, who traveled the United States to expose the horrific realties of racist terrorism and lynching;

(7) Oscar De Priest, the first African American congressman from Illinois and the first Black congressman elected in the 20th century in the United States, who ended a nearly 30 year gap from when the first African Americans were elected to Congress during the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War;

(8) Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender, the mostly widely read and circulated Black-owned newspaper in the United States, which gave voice to issues of culture, life, and politics among African Americans;

(9) Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn an international pilot's license, who captivated audiences with exhibitions and barnstorming tours;

(10) Muddy Waters, whose move from Mississippi to Chicago and adoption of electrically amplified instrumentation birthed the genre of Chicago blues music, which served as the direct and most primary antecedent of rock and roll music;

(11) Gwendolyn Brooks, a writer who became the first Black poet to win the Pulitzer Prize and the first Black woman to serve in the role known as the United States Poet Laureate;

(12) Carol Mosely Braun, the first Black woman elected to the United States Senate; and

(13) Barack and Michelle Obama, who became the nation's first African American President and First Lady; and

WHEREAS, Illinois has been and will continue to be shaped by countless citizens who contribute to Black history in their communities and help build the vibrant fabric of our State; and

WHEREAS, The 2026 national theme for Black History Month, A Century of Black History Commemorations, urges us to reflect on how these 100 years of community, history, and storytelling have transformed the status of Black people in the modern world and have protected the historical record against erasure; and

WHEREAS, As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States independence, the struggle for equality, liberty, and opportunity by Black Americans, driven by scientists, laborers, entrepreneurs, educators, and artists, remains the greatest catalyst for American progress; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the 100th anniversary of the movement started by Dr. Carter G. Woodson to celebrate Black history; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we affirm that Black history is American history, and its preservation is essential to the strength of our democracy and the freedoms we hold dear; and

RESOLVED, That we encourage all citizens, schools, and cultural institutions in Illinois to engage with the full, accurate truth of our history.