Full Text of HR0770 97th General Assembly
HR0770 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells was a seminal figure in | 3 | | Post-Reconstruction America and one of the great pioneering | 4 | | activists for civil rights for African-Americans long before | 5 | | the Civil Rights Movement, as it has come to be known in | 6 | | history; her achievements have not received the attention they | 7 | | deserve as she was a fierce activist for both African-Americans | 8 | | and women, challenging traditional power structures as well as | 9 | | leadership within activist movements, and as a journalist | 10 | | reporting first-hand and publicizing the widespread atrocity | 11 | | of lynching; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells was born into slavery on July 16, | 13 | | 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, 6 months before President | 14 | | Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation; her parents, Jim | 15 | | and Elizabeth, taught her the value of education and of | 16 | | speaking her mind; she was orphaned at 16 and left college to | 17 | | become a teacher to care for her 5 remaining siblings and keep | 18 | | them together; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, At a time when black teachers made $30 per month | 20 | | and white teachers made $80 per month, Ida B. Wells moved to | 21 | | Memphis, Tennessee, embarking on a career as a journalist and | 22 | | civil rights activist; in September 1883, she preceded Rosa | 23 | | Parks' historic bus ride by 72 years, refusing to give up her |
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| 1 | | seat on a train car and being forcibly removed at the age of | 2 | | 21; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells stepped outside the traditional roles | 4 | | of a woman and of an African-American at the turn of the | 5 | | century by speaking out about unsavory topics; she is | 6 | | considered to be the single most powerful leader in the | 7 | | anti-lynching campaign in America; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells became the editor and owner of her | 9 | | own newspaper, and when her newspaper office was destroyed in | 10 | | an angry response to her outspoken writings, she was exiled | 11 | | from Memphis and stayed away from the South for over 30 years, | 12 | | moving to New York and then Chicago; in 1893 and 1894, she | 13 | | traveled across the United States and throughout the United | 14 | | Kingdom, passionately writing and speaking out against | 15 | | lynching; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Between 1880 and 1930, approximately 3,220 black | 17 | | Americans were reported lynched, with many hundreds more | 18 | | unreported African-Americans killed and whites as well; | 19 | | following Wells' campaigns, legislation against lynching was | 20 | | enacted in parts of the South and the numbers of lynchings went | 21 | | down, from a peak of 235 in 1892 to 107 by 1899; and | 22 | | WHEREAS, In 1895, Ida B. Wells married Ferdinand L. |
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| 1 | | Barnett, an attorney and owner of The Conservator, one of | 2 | | Chicago's black newspapers; he and Ida had 4 children together; | 3 | | and she continued her activism while juggling motherhood and | 4 | | her many civil rights commitments; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells was one of the founders of several | 6 | | organizations, including the NAACP, the Negro Fellowship | 7 | | League to assist black men and boys who were excluded from the | 8 | | YMCA, and the Alpha Suffrage Club, an organization of black | 9 | | women who worked to obtain the right to vote; she assisted the | 10 | | National Association of Colored Women and the Brotherhood of | 11 | | Sleeping Car Porters and served as the secretary of the | 12 | | African-American Press Association; she worked with Susan B. | 13 | | Anthony as a leader in the movement for women's suffrage and | 14 | | with Jane Addams in Chicago to prevent the establishment of | 15 | | segregated public schools; and even within these | 16 | | organizations, she challenged contemporary leaders who | 17 | | advocated for appeasement and accommodation in favor of | 18 | | uncompromising confrontational actions; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, In 1918, Ida B. Wells covered race riots and | 20 | | lynchings in East St. Louis and in Arkansas; In 1928, she began | 21 | | writing her autobiography, fearing future generations would | 22 | | never hear the truth of the injustices that were happening at | 23 | | the time; in 1930, out of frustration with the slow movement of | 24 | | rights for African-Americans and the stalemate of the 2 parties |
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| 1 | | in government, Ida B. Wells became the first African-American | 2 | | woman to run for the Illinois State Senate; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells passed away after a sudden illness on | 4 | | March 25, 1931 at the age of 68; her husband passed the | 5 | | following year, and they are interred together in Chicago's Oak | 6 | | Woods Cemetery; in 1940, she was honored by having the first | 7 | | public housing development for African-Americans in Chicago, | 8 | | The Ida B. Wells Homes, named after her, which stood for over | 9 | | 60 years; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Ida B. Wells' tireless work and great dedication | 11 | | to the civil rights movement is deserving of the greatest | 12 | | honor; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 14 | | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 15 | | we designate the date of March 25, 2012 as Ida B. Wells Day in | 16 | | the State of Illinois in honor of Ida B. Wells and her great | 17 | | work with the civil rights movement; and be it further
| 18 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 19 | | presented to Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of Ida B. | 20 | | Wells for efforts to protect her legacy.
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