Full Text of HR0264 99th General Assembly
HR0264 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, In March of 1965, a series of marches took place | 3 | | from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama as part of the | 4 | | Voting Rights Movement that had began a few years prior; | 5 | | numerous African-American citizens made the 54-mile walk from | 6 | | Selma to the Alabama state capitol to demonstrate their desire | 7 | | to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of | 8 | | segregationist repression; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, The first march took place on March 7, 1965; it | 10 | | was interrupted when the 600 marchers were attacked at the | 11 | | Edmund Pettus Bridge after leaving Selma, becoming known as | 12 | | "Bloody Sunday"; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The second march, "Turnaround Tuesday", took | 14 | | place on March 9, 1965; the march was to be "ceremonial" with | 15 | | participants halting when ordered to do so, in compliance with | 16 | | a legal injunction against marching any further; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, On March 21, 1965, close to 8,000 people began the | 18 | | third march, and, on March 25, 25,000 people arrived at the | 19 | | steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building to witness Dr. | 20 | | Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his "How Long, Not Long" | 21 | | speech; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The marches received national and international | 2 | | coverage and had a powerful effect on Washington, D.C. and the | 3 | | rest of the country, and, on March 15, 1965, President Lyndon | 4 | | Johnson presented to Congress the bill that would become the | 5 | | Voting Rights Act; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, In 1960, there were 53,336 African-American | 7 | | voters in the State of Alabama, and, 3 decades later, there | 8 | | were 537,285; in 1996, the 54-mile Selma-to-Montgomery | 9 | | National Historic Trail was established, preserved by the | 10 | | National Park Service; therefore, be it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 12 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 13 | | recognize the Selma to Montgomery marches that took place in | 14 | | March of 1965 and the continuing struggle to ensure voting | 15 | | rights are allowed to be exercised by all.
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