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| 1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson was born in Greenville, | ||||||
| 3 | Mississippi and was raised on Chicago's South Side before | ||||||
| 4 | embarking on an academic career at Northwestern University and | ||||||
| 5 | the University of Chicago; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson has distinguished herself as an | ||||||
| 7 | award-winning poet, novelist, and playwright; she has authored | ||||||
| 8 | three chapbooks, four volumes of poetry, and several stage | ||||||
| 9 | plays; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson's writing has been honored with | ||||||
| 11 | numerous awards, including the Carl Sandburg Award, the | ||||||
| 12 | Chicago Sun-Times/Friends of Literature Book of the Year | ||||||
| 13 | Award, the John Gardner Prize, and the American Book Award; in | ||||||
| 14 | addition, she has been nominated for numerous other awards, | ||||||
| 15 | including the Pulitzer Prize; and
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| 16 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson was a 20-year member of the | ||||||
| 17 | Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) Writers' | ||||||
| 18 | Workshop and succeeded the late Hoyt W. Fuller as its chair; | ||||||
| 19 | and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson's poetry and fiction have been | ||||||
| 21 | published in many journals and anthologies, including | ||||||
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| 1 | Triquarterly, First World, NOMMO, Chicago Review, Essence, and | ||||||
| 2 | The Best of the Pushcart Prizes, among others; and
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| 3 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson has traveled throughout Illinois | ||||||
| 4 | to teach students of the importance, power, and | ||||||
| 5 | self-empowerment of poetry; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Angela Jackson has, in being named Poet Laureate | ||||||
| 7 | of Illinois, followed in the footsteps of Howard Austin, Carl | ||||||
| 8 | Sandburg, Kevin Stein, and Gwendolyn Brooks, whose life she | ||||||
| 9 | chronicled in her biography A Surprised Queenhood in the New | ||||||
| 10 | Black Sun: The Life and Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks; therefore, | ||||||
| 11 | be it
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| 12 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL | ||||||
| 13 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare November | ||||||
| 14 | 25, 2021 as Angela Jackson Day and support her goal of | ||||||
| 15 | awakening in people a lifelong passion for poetry; and be it | ||||||
| 16 | further
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| 17 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 18 | presented to Angela Jackson, Poet Laureate of Illinois, as a | ||||||
| 19 | symbol of our respect and esteem.
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