|
| | HR0846 | | LRB098 20265 MST 55656 r |
|
|
| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
|
| 2 | | WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the |
| 3 | | Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate |
| 4 | | civil rights trailblazer Thomas N. Todd on being honored by |
| 5 | | Chicago State University; and
|
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd was one of the first African-American |
| 7 | | United States attorneys hired in Chicago in 1967; he |
| 8 | | established the nations's first Office of Civil Rights within |
| 9 | | the U.S. Attorney's office in 1969; and
|
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd made history in 1968 by filing the |
| 11 | | first criminal case against a Chicago Police officer for |
| 12 | | deprivation of an individual's civil rights, and that same |
| 13 | | year, he helped establish the Afro-American Patrolman's |
| 14 | | League; and
|
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd was the first full-time |
| 16 | | African-American professor hired at Northwestern University's |
| 17 | | School of Law, where he taught from 1970-1974; he also served |
| 18 | | as President of the Chicago Chapter of the Southern Christian |
| 19 | | Leadership Conference in 1971; and
|
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd co-founded Operation PUSH in 1971 and |
| 21 | | created its name - People United to Serve Humanity; he served |
|
| | HR0846 | - 2 - | LRB098 20265 MST 55656 r |
|
|
| 1 | | as its first Vice-President under President Jesse Jackson and |
| 2 | | was acting President from 1983-1984; and
|
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd was the legal advisor behind the |
| 4 | | historic campaigns of key African-American Chicago |
| 5 | | politicians, from U.S. Rep. Ralph Metcalfe to the late Chicago |
| 6 | | Mayor Harold Washington; and
|
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd was born in Demopolis, Alabama on |
| 8 | | September 24, 1938; he graduated from high school at age 15, |
| 9 | | received his bachelor's degree in political science from |
| 10 | | Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1959, and |
| 11 | | graduated magna cum laude from law school in 1963; he then |
| 12 | | entered the United States Army to serve as a Judge Advocate |
| 13 | | General Corp Officer from 1964-1967; he and his wife of 47 |
| 14 | | years, Janis, have 2 daughters; and
|
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Todd was the keynote speaker at a Chicago |
| 16 | | State University ceremony celebrating his donation of an |
| 17 | | extensive collection of documents and memorabilia to the school |
| 18 | | that spans his 50 years as a civil rights trailblazer; |
| 19 | | therefore, be it
|
| 20 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
| 21 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that |
| 22 | | we congratulate Thomas N. Todd on being honored by Chicago |