SR0416LRB099 12082 MST 34780 r

1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of legendary civil rights icon, Alice
4Tregay; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Alice Tregay was a native of Evanston, known as a
6child by the name of Lucille Hicks; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Alice Tregay became active in public life in the
81960s; in 1971, along with her longtime allies, (the late)
9Janice Bell and Rev. Willie T. Barrow (who recently preceded
10her in death), she helped start the Political Education
11Division for Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership
12Conference, under the leadership of a young organizer named
13Jesse Jackson; and taught thousands of students how to organize
14citizens and lead political campaigns; she served as director
15and chief lobbyist for the Black Illinois Legislative Lobby in
16Springfield from 1977 to 1982; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Alice Tregay directed the local and national voter
18registration, voter education, and get-out-the-vote campaigns
19under Operation Breadbasket, PUSH, and Rainbow/PUSH, including
20the historic election and re-election of Chicago's first black
21Mayor Harold Washington; and
 

 

 

SR0416- 2 -LRB099 12082 MST 34780 r

1    WHEREAS, Alice Tregay and her husband, James, marched
2numerous times alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in support
3of open housing and desegregation in the Chicago public
4schools; she was also the President of the South Shore
5Organization for Human Rights; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Alice Tregay has advocated on behalf of the
7disadvantaged, registered thousands of new voters, and managed
8or worked on behalf of many high-profile political campaigns,
9including Rev. Jackson's presidential campaigns of 1984 and
101988, and President Obama's campaign in 2008, and as a result,
11the citizens of Illinois and those across the country are
12better off; and
 
13    WHEREAS, A documentary on Alice Tregay's extraordinary
14life, "Alice's Ordinary People", was presented to a full-house
15at the Shorefront Legacy Center on June 19, 2013; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Alice Tregay was never one to slow down and was
17still promoting voter registration late in her life; she will
18go down in history as registering more voters than any other
19voter education activist in political history; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
21ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
22a civil rights icon, Alice Tregay, and extend our sincere

 

 

SR0416- 3 -LRB099 12082 MST 34780 r

1condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved
2her; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4presented to the family of Alice Tregay as an expression of our
5deepest sympathy.