HR0802 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0802 LRB095 14188 KXB 40056 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Margaret Taylor-Burroughs of Chicago on the occasion of her 90th birthday; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Taylor-Burroughs was born on November 1, 1917, in St. Rose, Louisiana; her parents, Alexander and Octavia Taylor, moved their family to Chicago in search of a better life; Margaret Taylor graduated from Englewood High School in 1933, and from Chicago Teacher's College (renamed Chicago State University) in 1937; she received a Bachelor's (1944) and a Master's (1948) of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Taylor married artist Bernard Goss in 1939, and later had a daughter, Gayle; in the 1940s, while teaching art at an elementary school, she constructed the egg tempera painting, "I've Been in Some Big Towns"; Margaret Taylor Goss and her husband later divorced; she then went to teach at Dusable High School for twenty-three years; in 1947, her first children's book, Jasper, the Drummin' Boy, was published; Margaret Taylor-Goss was married on December 23, 1949 to Charles Gordon Burroughs; and

WHEREAS, Her writing and artworks soared; her additional children's books published were, Did You Feed My Cow? Rhymes and Games From City Streets, Country Lanes (1955), and Whip Me Whop Me Pudding and Other Stories of Riley Rabbit and His Fabulous Friends (1966); her visual artworks include a watercolor, Ribbon Man, Mexico City Market, inspired by her experience at the Institute of Printing and Sculpture in New Mexico; an oil painting, Insect (1963); a marble sculpture, Head (1965); and two bronze sculptures, Black Queen and Head

(1963); and

WHEREAS, The Burroughs' founded the Ebony Museum of African-American History (renamed the Dusable Museum of African-American History) in their home in Chicago; their aim was to make art, history, and literature on the Black experience accessible to the community; the museum was eventually moved to Washington Park, with Margaret Burroughs as the executive director ; and

WHEREAS, In 1967, she and Dudley Randall of the Broadside Press edited an anthology of poems by Black writers and leaders entitled, For Malcolm: Poems in the Life and Death of Malcolm X; Margaret Burroughs published her own book of poems, What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black? (1968), describing the effects of racism on one's mental state; her poems, including, " Open Letter to Black Youth of Alabama and Other Places", sent a message of Black pride; some poems encompass familial themes, such as, "Apology to My Daughter for Apparent Neglect", "Lines for My Mother", and "Memorial for My Father"; her second volume of poetry, Africa, My Africa, was published in 1970; the poems in this volume explore the topics of slavery, African culture, and African life; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Burroughs taught humanities at Kennedy-King Community College between the years of 1969 and 1979; during the 1980s, she served on the Chicago District's Board of Education; she received many awards and honors for her achievements, including a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Lewis University in Illinois, as well as honorary degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago, where she taught humanities in 1968, Chicago State, and Columbia College; a day was named in her honor by the former Mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington, on February 1, 1986; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Margaret Taylor-Burroughs on the many achievements of her life and wish her the best on the occasion of her 90th birthday; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Margaret Taylor-Burroughs as a symbol of our respect and esteem.