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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate Delta Sigma Theta
4Inc. on 100 years of service and the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae
5Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority as it celebrates 40
6years of service to the Champaign, Urbana, Danville, and
7Rantoul communities on December 15, 2013; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The local centennial celebration and the 40th
9anniversary of the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter will take
10place on March 2, 2013; local programs include Building a
11Healthy Community One Church at a Time, Delta Growing and
12Empowering Myself Successfully, Adoption of the University of
13Illinois Odyssey Project, Empowering Males to Build
14Opportunities for Empowerment, Domestic Violence Initiatives,
15Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Scholarships, and "We the People"
16Political Awareness Events; the president of the
17Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter is Ave M. Blackwell Alvarado;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, Under the leadership of the 24th National
20President, Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre, and through the
21vision of the 22 founders, Delta Theta Sorority continues to
22impact lives and make a difference in communities around the
23world, guided by its biennial theme "Delta Sigma Theta-A

 

 

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1Sisterhood Called to Serve: Transforming Lives, Impacting
2Communities"; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Founded on January 13, 1913, at Howard University,
4Delta Sigma Theta has become the largest African-American
5women's organization in the world; 200,000 women are members of
6more than 1,000 chapters located in the U.S., England, Japan,
7Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and South
8Korea; one of the first public acts was their participation in
9the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C. in March of
101913; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Some notable members of the sorority through the
12years are Osceola Macarthy Adams, a founding member of Delta
13Sigma Theta Sorority and the first black actress on Broadway;
14Sadie T.M. Alexander, the nation's first woman to earn a Ph.D.
15in economics and one of the founders of the National Bar
16Association; Barbara Jordan, the first African-American to
17serve in the U.S. congress from the south since reconstruction
18and the first black woman to preside over a state senate;
19Marcia L. Fudge, the 21st National President of Delta Sigma
20Theta and current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus;
21Hazel Johnson Brown, the first African-American woman general
22in the U.S. Army; Julianne Malveaux, the 15th president of
23Bennett College; Winnie Mandela, the first black social worker
24in South Africa and former leader of the African National

 

 

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1Congress; Tina Allen, sculptor and painter; Selma Burke,
2sculptor; Alexa Canady, the first black neurosurgeon in the
3U.S.; Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman member of the
4U.S. Congress and the first black woman to run as a major party
5candidate for the presidency of the U.S.; the actress Ruby Dee
6Davis; Myrlie Evers-Williams, chairman emerita of the board for
7the NAACP; Frankie M. Freeman, the 14th National President of
8Delta Sigma Theta and the first woman appointed to the Civil
9Rights Commission; Patricia Robert Harris, the first black
10woman to be appointed ambassador to a European country and to
11be appointed to a presidential cabinet post; Dorothy I. Height,
12the 10th National President of Delta Sigma Theta and president
13of the National Council of Negro Women for over 40 years;
14Alexis Herman, former Secretary of Labor; Darlene Clark Hine,
15author and the first African-American to become the John A.
16Hannah of History Endowed Chair at Michigan State University;
17Elaine R. Jones, the first woman to serve as Director-Council
18of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the first African-American
19woman graduate of the University of Virginia Law School; Jewel
20S. Lafontant, the first American woman to be admitted into the
21International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the first female
22Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.; and Mary Church Terrell,
23the first African-American chosen to represent the U.S.
24Congress of Women and to serve on the board of education of a
25major city; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Some other well-known members are Melissa Harris
2Perry of MSNBC, Soledad O'Brien of CNN, Gwen Ifill of PBS,
3singer Aretha Franklin, actress Cicely Tyson, actress and
4HIV/AIDS activist Sheryl Lee Ralph, and poet Nikki Giovanni;
5therefore, be it
 
6    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
7NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
8we congratulate Delta Sigma Theta Inc. on 100 years of service
9and the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter as it celebrates 40
10years of service to the Champaign, Urbana, Danville, and
11Rantoul communities; and be it further
 
12    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
13presented to the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter of the Delta
14Sigma Theta Sorority as an expression of our esteem and
15respect.