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| | HR1172 | | LRB098 21593 MST 60334 r |
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1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | | WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the
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3 | | Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the |
4 | | death of renowned poet Maya Angelou, who passed away on May 28, |
5 | | 2014; and
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6 | | WHEREAS, Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, |
7 | | Missouri on April 4, 1928 and raised in St. Louis and Stamps, |
8 | | Arkansas; at age 13, she and her brother rejoined their mother |
9 | | in San Francisco; she attended Mission High School and won a |
10 | | scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor |
11 | | School, where she was exposed to the progressive ideals that |
12 | | animated her later political activism; she dropped out of |
13 | | school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African |
14 | | American female cable car conductor; she later returned to high |
15 | | school, but became pregnant in her senior year, graduating a |
16 | | few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy; she left home at |
17 | | 16 and took on the difficult life of a single mother, |
18 | | supporting herself and her son by working as a waitress and |
19 | | cook, but she had not given up on her talents for music, dance, |
20 | | performance, and poetry; in 1952, she began her career as a |
21 | | nightclub singer, and took the professional name, Maya Angelou; |
22 | | and
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23 | | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou's performing career flourished; she |
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| | HR1172 | - 2 - | LRB098 21593 MST 60334 r |
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1 | | toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess in |
2 | | 1954 and 1955, studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced |
3 | | with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows, and recorded her |
4 | | first record album, Calypso Lady; and
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5 | | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou had composed song lyrics and poems |
6 | | for many years, and by the end of the 1950s was increasingly |
7 | | interested in developing her skills as a writer; she moved to |
8 | | New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and took |
9 | | her place among the growing number of young black writers and |
10 | | artists associated with the Civil Rights Movement; she acted in |
11 | | the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks |
12 | | and wrote and performed a Cabaret for Freedom with the actor |
13 | | and comedian Godfrey Cambridge; and
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14 | | WHEREAS, In 1960, May Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt and |
15 | | served as editor of the English language weekly, The Arab |
16 | | Observer; she and Guy later moved to Ghana, where she joined a |
17 | | thriving group of African American expatriates; she served as |
18 | | an instructor and assistant administrator at the University of |
19 | | Ghana's School of Music and Drama, worked as feature editor for |
20 | | The African Review, and wrote for The Ghanaian Times and the |
21 | | Ghanaian Broadcasting Company; during her years abroad, she |
22 | | read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, |
23 | | Italian, Arabic, and the West African language Fanti; she met |
24 | | with the American dissident leader Malcolm X in his visits to |
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| | HR1172 | - 3 - | LRB098 21593 MST 60334 r |
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1 | | Ghana, and corresponded with him as his thinking evolved from |
2 | | the racially polarized thinking of his youth to the more |
3 | | inclusive vision of his maturity; and |
4 | | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou returned to America in 1964, with the |
5 | | intention of helping Malcolm X build his new Organization of |
6 | | African American Unity; shortly after her arrival in the United |
7 | | States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and his plans for a new |
8 | | organization died with him; she involved herself in television |
9 | | production and remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, |
10 | | working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who |
11 | | requested that she serve as Northern Coordinator for the |
12 | | Southern Christian Leadership Conference; his assassination |
13 | | left her devastated, but she found solace in writing, and began |
14 | | work on the book that would become "I Know Why the Caged Bird |
15 | | Sings", which tells the story of her life from her childhood in |
16 | | Arkansas to the birth of her child; it was published in 1970 to |
17 | | widespread critical acclaim and enormous popular success; and |
18 | | WHEREAS, Seemingly overnight, Maya Angelou became a |
19 | | national figure; in the following years, books of her verse and |
20 | | the subsequent volumes of her autobiographical narrative won |
21 | | her a huge international audience; she was increasingly in |
22 | | demand as a teacher and lecturer and continued to explore |
23 | | dramatic forms as well; she wrote the screenplay and composed |
24 | | the score for the film Georgia, Georgia (1972); her screenplay, |
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| | HR1172 | - 4 - | LRB098 21593 MST 60334 r |
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1 | | the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was |
2 | | nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; and |
3 | | WHEREAS, Maya Angelou has been invited by successive |
4 | | Presidents of the United States to serve in various capacities; |
5 | | President Ford appointed her to the American Revolution |
6 | | Bicentennial Commission and President Carter invited her to |
7 | | serve on the Presidential Commission for the International Year |
8 | | of the Woman; President Clinton requested that she compose a |
9 | | poem to read at his inauguration in 1993; her reading of her |
10 | | poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around |
11 | | the world; and |
12 | | WHEREAS, Since 1981, Maya Angelou has served as Reynolds |
13 | | Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in |
14 | | Winston-Salem, North Carolina; she continued to appear on |
15 | | television and in films including Poetic Justice (1993) and the |
16 | | landmark television adaptation of Roots (1977) and she has |
17 | | directed numerous dramatic and documentary programs on |
18 | | television and her first feature film, Down in the Delta, in |
19 | | 1996; the list of her published works now includes more than 30 |
20 | | titles; and |
21 | | WHEREAS, In 2000, Maya Angelou was honored with the |
22 | | Presidential Medal of the Arts and she received the Ford's |
23 | | Theatre Lincoln Medal in 2008; also in 2008, she narrated the |
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| | HR1172 | - 5 - | LRB098 21593 MST 60334 r |
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1 | | award-winning documentary film The Black Candle and published a |
2 | | book of guidance for young women, Letter to My Daughter; in |
3 | | 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her the nation's highest |
4 | | civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; therefore, |
5 | | be it
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6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
7 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that |
8 | | we mourn the passing of Maya Angelou, a celebrated poet, |
9 | | memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, |
10 | | historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, and extend our |
11 | | sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew |
12 | | and loved her; and be it further
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13 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be |
14 | | presented to the family of Maya Angelou as an expression of our |
15 | | deepest sympathy.
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