Full Text of HJR0025 98th General Assembly
HJ0025 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois General Assembly are | 3 | | saddened to learn of the death of Susan Cayton Woodson of | 4 | | Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, who passed away on January | 5 | | 31, 2013; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Susan Cayton Woodson was born on October 16, 1918, | 7 | | in Seattle, Washington; as her mother died when she was just | 8 | | one year old, she was raised by her maternal grandparents, | 9 | | Horace Roscoe Cayton, Sr., and Susie Revels Cayton; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Susan Cayton Woodson was very conscious of her | 11 | | heritage and worked hard to honor her ancestors in her life's | 12 | | work; her great-grandfather, Hiram Rhodes Revels, made history | 13 | | in 1870 in Reconstruction Mississippi when he was elected the | 14 | | country's first African-American U.S. Senator and later became | 15 | | the first president of Alcorn State University in Mississippi; | 16 | | her maternal grandmother was a suffragette and union activist | 17 | | and her maternal grandfather published the Seattle Republican, | 18 | | the city's first black newspaper; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, The Caytons passed on their strong work ethic to | 20 | | their children and granddaughter; Susan Cayton Woodson's aunt, | 21 | | Madge, was one of the first black women to graduate from the | 22 | | University of Washington; her uncle, Horace, Jr., served as |
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| 1 | | director of Chicago's Parkway Community House, a | 2 | | social-service center in Bronzeville, and co-authored the 1945 | 3 | | book Black Metropolis; her uncle, Revels Cayton, was a | 4 | | prominent labor and civil rights activist in San Francisco; her | 5 | | aunt, Lillie, became a counselor and spokesperson for | 6 | | Alcoholics Anonymous throughout the West Coast; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Following her grandfather's death in 1940, Susan | 8 | | Cayton moved to Chicago; she was entrusted for the long drive | 9 | | to Paul Robeson, a close family friend; she worked a | 10 | | switchboard at Parkway Community House and became involved in | 11 | | the Chicago Renaissance when black artists like Gwendolyn | 12 | | Brooks, Margaret Walker, Charles Wilbert White, and Richmond | 13 | | Barthe produced their early works; she counted among her | 14 | | friends such leading African-American cultural and political | 15 | | figures as Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks, | 16 | | William Carter, Eldzier Cortor, Charles Sebree, Elizabeth | 17 | | Catlett, and Irene Clark; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Susan Cayton Woodson and Chicago businessman and | 19 | | chemist Harold Woodson were married in 1949; the couple raised | 20 | | a family together; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Susan Cayton Woodson was an avid collector of | 22 | | African-American art; her home became the site of the Susan C. | 23 | | Woodson Gallery of Chicago, which she created to allow her to |
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| 1 | | remain at home to care for her ailing husband; the gallery | 2 | | became the preeminent and internationally acclaimed collection | 3 | | of the Chicago Renaissance; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, For more than three decades, Susan Cayton Woodson | 5 | | was one of the most devoted supporters of the Chicago Public | 6 | | Library's Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection; in 1983, she | 7 | | donated the Horace Cayton papers; in 1988, she organized the | 8 | | visual arts exhibit and programming for the first-ever exhibit | 9 | | on the Chicago Black Renaissance; the following year, she | 10 | | donated her own papers and those of her husband; she also | 11 | | served on the Board of the South Side Community Art Center for | 12 | | almost 40 years and, when they offered her the chance to take | 13 | | emeritus status, she insisted on remaining a working member of | 14 | | the Board; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Susan Cayton Woodson was preceded in death by her | 16 | | loving husband of 48 years, the late Harold W. Woodson; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Susan Cayton Woodson is survived by her son, | 18 | | Harold W. Woodson, Jr., (Virginia); her stepdaughter, Eleanor | 19 | | Kamuda; her grandson, Charles J. Woodson; her granddaughters, | 20 | | Melissa Waldon-Ongley (Ryan Stephen) and Meredith Kamuda; her | 21 | | great-granddaughter, Marley Rose Meanie; her nieces, Madge | 22 | | Cayton and Susie Cayton; her nephews, Leroy Revels Cayton and | 23 | | Richard Rice; her grandson-in-love, William K. Gilchrist; and |
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| 1 | | her daughters-in-love, Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Kelvin) and | 2 | | Derise Tolliver (Osofo); therefore, be it
| 3 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 4 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 5 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we mourn, along with her family | 6 | | and friends, the passing of Susan Cayton Woodson; and be it | 7 | | further
| 8 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 9 | | presented to the family of Susan Cayton Woodson as a symbol of | 10 | | our deep sympathy and great esteem.
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