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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of James "Major" Adams of Chicago; and
 
4    WHEREAS, James Adams was born on January 5, 1922 and raised
5on the Westside of Chicago; he graduated from Crane High School
6in 1939 and served in Europe during World War II; and
 
7    WHEREAS, After World War II, James Adams worked for various
8agencies, including Jane Adams' Hull House; he moved into Henry
9Horner Housing Development in 1955 and began providing gang
10intervention and prevention programs as a volunteer, then later
11as an employee, of the Henry Horner Boys & Girls Club; due in
12part to his efforts, the Henry Horner Boys & Girls Club became
13the first Boys & Girls Club built in a housing development in
14the United States; he and other community residents created a
15drill team which later became the Hornets Drum & Bugle Corps, a
16nationally renowned 120-member, paramilitary style band
17composed of young people and troubled youth ages 14 to 21; and
 
18    WHEREAS, From 1959 through 1962, James Adams, with the
19assistance of the Chicago Area Project, established and
20developed the Youth Services Committee of the Westside, a
21grass-roots, voluntary, community-based organization to
22address the rising juvenile delinquency cases in the

 

 

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1neighborhood; he helped provide direct services and advocated
2on behalf of the youth and families with schools, courts, the
3Chicago Police Department, and other institutions; he
4initiated community organizing and development efforts aimed
5at improving the quality of life for neighborhood residents;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, James Adams created the community's first
8re-entry program for ex-felons; he recruited the Salvation Army
9to provide daily breakfast and lunches and Mile Square Health
10Center and Bobby Wright Mental Health to provide medical
11services; during the 1970s and 1980s, he assisted the
12leadership of Malcolm X in recruiting and increasing student
13enrollment, developing the community/college music program,
14and promoting summer youth sports and academic initiatives; he
15led the Malcolm X College Kwanzaa program for youth residing in
16the Henry Horner Homes from 1993 to 1996; and
 
17    WHEREAS, James Adams worked with local businesses,
18including Rush University to provide job opportunities; he
19created the original midnight basketball program to keep young
20men off the streets during prime crime spree hours; his
21counseling and mentoring aided in reducing the rate of
22recidivism and his work with Nancy Jefferson and Congressman
23Danny Davis led to many programs assisting ex-felons; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, James Adams' work has influenced many notable
2individuals such as Warner Saunders (NBC 5 News Anchor),
3Reginald "Hats" Adams, Maurice and Verdine White (Earth, Wind &
4Fire), Dr. Steven Parker, Dr. Vaughn Tatum, Sonny Lumpkin, City
5College Chancellor Cheryl Hyman, Howard Lathan, Boyse Edwards,
6Keith Jackson, Arthur Robertson (Founder of the South Shore
7Drill Team), Bill Freeman; and many other notable leaders; and
 
8    WHEREAS, James Adams was a recipient of numerous awards and
9accolades, including the 1996 Shule Ya Watolo Award, the 1998
10National Jefferson Award/Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Public
11Service Award, the 2012 President Volunteer Services Award, and
12the 2013 Governor's Volunteer Award; he continued to actively
13serve families of the greater Westside late into his life; and
 
14    WHEREAS, James Adams' work will continue through the agency
15he founded in 1996, the Major Adams Community Committee (MACC),
16which along with countless others will keep his vision alive of
17"Empowering Youth and Families"; therefore, be it
 
18    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
19ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
20James "Major" Adams, and extend our sincere condolences to his
21family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
22further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2presented to the family of James Adams as an expression of our
3deepest sympathy.