HR0067 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0067 LRB098 10319 MST 40504 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Delta Sigma Theta Inc. on 100 years of service and the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority as it celebrates 40 years of service to the Champaign, Urbana, Danville, and Rantoul communities on December 15, 2013; and

WHEREAS, The local centennial celebration and the 40th anniversary of the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter will take place on March 2, 2013; local programs include Building a Healthy Community One Church at a Time, Delta Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully, Adoption of the University of Illinois Odyssey Project, Empowering Males to Build Opportunities for Empowerment, Domestic Violence Initiatives, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Scholarships, and "We the People" Political Awareness Events; the president of the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter is Ave M. Blackwell Alvarado; and

WHEREAS, Under the leadership of the 24th National President, Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre, and through the vision of the 22 founders, Delta Theta Sorority continues to impact lives and make a difference in communities around the world, guided by its biennial theme "Delta Sigma Theta-A Sisterhood Called to Serve: Transforming Lives, Impacting Communities"; and

WHEREAS, Founded on January 13, 1913, at Howard University, Delta Sigma Theta has become the largest African-American women's organization in the world; 200,000 women are members of more than 1,000 chapters located in the U.S., England, Japan, Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and South Korea; one of the first public acts was their participation in the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C. in March of 1913; and

WHEREAS, Some notable members of the sorority through the years are Osceola Macarthy Adams, a founding member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the first black actress on Broadway; Sadie T.M. Alexander, the nation's first woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics and one of the founders of the National Bar Association; Barbara Jordan, the first African-American to serve in the U.S. congress from the south since reconstruction and the first black woman to preside over a state senate; Marcia L. Fudge, the 21st National President of Delta Sigma Theta and current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Hazel Johnson Brown, the first African-American woman general in the U.S. Army; Julianne Malveaux, the 15th president of Bennett College; Winnie Mandela, the first black social worker in South Africa and former leader of the African National Congress; Tina Allen, sculptor and painter; Selma Burke, sculptor; Alexa Canady, the first black neurosurgeon in the U.S.; Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman member of the U.S. Congress and the first black woman to run as a major party candidate for the presidency of the U.S.; the actress Ruby Dee Davis; Myrlie Evers-Williams, chairman emerita of the board for the NAACP; Frankie M. Freeman, the 14th National President of Delta Sigma Theta and the first woman appointed to the Civil Rights Commission; Patricia Robert Harris, the first black woman to be appointed ambassador to a European country and to be appointed to a presidential cabinet post; Dorothy I. Height, the 10th National President of Delta Sigma Theta and president of the National Council of Negro Women for over 40 years; Alexis Herman, former Secretary of Labor; Darlene Clark Hine, author and the first African-American to become the John A. Hannah of History Endowed Chair at Michigan State University; Elaine R. Jones, the first woman to serve as Director-Council of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the first African-American woman graduate of the University of Virginia Law School; Jewel S. Lafontant, the first American woman to be admitted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the first female Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.; and Mary Church Terrell, the first African-American chosen to represent the U.S. Congress of Women and to serve on the board of education of a major city; and

WHEREAS, Some other well-known members are Melissa Harris Perry of MSNBC, Soledad O'Brien of CNN, Gwen Ifill of PBS, singer Aretha Franklin, actress Cicely Tyson, actress and HIV/AIDS activist Sheryl Lee Ralph, and poet Nikki Giovanni; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Delta Sigma Theta Inc. on 100 years of service and the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter as it celebrates 40 years of service to the Champaign, Urbana, Danville, and Rantoul communities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Champaign-Urbana Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority as an expression of our esteem and respect.