SR0075 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0075 LRB097 10938 GRL 51504 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Irving M. King of Chicago, who passed away on February 6, 2011; and

WHEREAS, Irving King was born in Ashland, Virginia; his parents were Native Americans from the Pamunkey Nation; and

WHEREAS, Irving King met his loving wife, Lillian, at Hampton University in Virginia, a historically black college; he was inspired to go to law school by his admiration for the NAACP's chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall, who became the first African-American on the U.S. Supreme Court; he was subsequently accepted at Yale University and was among the few African-Americans listed in Yale Law School's graduating class of 1958; and

WHEREAS, After facing numerous barriers on account of his race, Irving King was offered a position with the Chicago law firm of Eugene Cotton, which represented aviation workers, machinists, printers and meat-packers; eventually, Mr. King's name was added to the shingle of Cotton, Watt, Jones, & King; and

WHEREAS, Irving King was well known for his role in numerous civil rights court cases during the 1960s and 1970s and his tenacious advocacy of the working man; during his career, he worked with legendary civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer to challenge questionable polling practices in Mississippi; he helped to win a pioneering case against United Airlines when it fired Mary Burke Sprogis for getting married in 1966, helping her to win reinstatement and back pay; his work on an Iowa packinghouse case contributed to a National Labor Relations Board requirement that unionized firms must bargain with workers first if a company is considering a move; he also worked with "Chicago Seven" attorney William M. Kuntsler and others to represent Fannie Lou Hamer when she challenged the historic 1967 election in Sunflower, Mississippi, when she alleged voting-rights violations ranging from blacks being kept out of the polling place to insufficient voting assistance for some illiterate African-Americans; and

WHEREAS, Irving King enjoyed fishing in Wisconsin on land that still belongs to his relatives in Virginia; he also enjoyed music, especially the works of Beethoven and Mahler; and

WHEREAS, Irving King is survived by his loving wife, Lillian; his children, Alan, Karen, and Michael; his sisters, Alma Winston and Verna Gray; his three granddaughters; and his great-granddaughter; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Irving M. King; and be it further

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