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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Earl Durham of Chicago, who passed away
4 on October 27, 2007; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Earl L. Durham was the youngest child of seven
6 born to parents who came to Chicago from Mississippi during the
7 Great Migration of the 1920s; he worked as a waiter on the
8 Illinois Central Railroad until being drafted during World War
9 II; after his service to his country ended, he took advantage
10 of the G.I. Bill and enrolled in college; he was a graduate of
11 Roosevelt College and the University of Chicago; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Mr. Durham received his degree in chemistry and
13 worked in a chemical plant; he later organized parents in
14 Woodlawn and Hyde Park to pressure the Board of Education to
15 improve Hyde Park High School so that parents of all races
16 would want to send their children there; over the next few
17 years, Earl Durham made his living studying the
18 psychopharmacology of substance abuse and serving as research
19 director at a halfway house for ex-offenders and heroin
20 addicts, where part of his job was to organize an advisory
21 committee of community residents; and
 
22     WHEREAS, Earl Durham made the decision to earn a master's

 

 

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1 degree at the School of Social Service Administration (SSA) at
2 the University of Chicago, and upon graduation was hired by the
3 School as a professor; he taught at SSA for 12 years and was
4 able to influence many students to consider community
5 organizing as a career; and
 
6     WHEREAS, In the 1970s, Earl Durham joined with Dr. Don
7 Moore as a founding member of Designs for Change, a group
8 committed to changing the Chicago school system for the
9 betterment of all students; he continued to work at the
10 University, with Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI)
11 and encouraging others to make a difference; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Earl L. Durham was preceded in death by his son,
13 Claude Durham; his brothers, Richard Durham and Curtis Durham;
14 his sisters, Winifred Holland and Marie Durham; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Earl L. Durham is survived by his three sons
16 Gerald, Eric, and Jody; his brother, Caldwell Durham; his
17 sister, Clotilde Smith; his sister-in-law, Clarice Durham; his
18 two grandchildren Cheyane and Jaz Durham; and many nieces,
19 nephews and a host of friends; therefore, be it
 
20     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
21 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
22 his family and friends, the passing of Earl L. Durham; and be

 

 

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1 it further
 
2     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
3 presented to the family of Earl L. Durham as a symbol of our
4 sympathy.