Full Text of SR0075 097th General Assembly
SR0075 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of
Irving M. King of Chicago, who passed | 4 | | away on February 6, 2011; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Irving King was born in Ashland, Virginia; his | 6 | | parents were Native Americans from the Pamunkey Nation; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Irving King met his loving wife, Lillian, at | 8 | | Hampton University in Virginia, a historically black college; | 9 | | he was inspired to go to law school by his admiration for the | 10 | | NAACP's chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall, who became the first | 11 | | African-American on the U.S. Supreme Court; he was subsequently | 12 | | accepted at Yale University and was among the few | 13 | | African-Americans listed in Yale Law School's graduating class | 14 | | of 1958; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, After facing numerous barriers on account of his | 16 | | race, Irving King was offered a position with the Chicago law | 17 | | firm of Eugene Cotton, which represented aviation workers, | 18 | | machinists, printers and meat-packers; eventually, Mr. King's | 19 | | name was added to the shingle of Cotton, Watt, Jones, & King; | 20 | | and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Irving King was well known for his role in |
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| 1 | | numerous civil rights court cases during the 1960s and 1970s | 2 | | and his tenacious advocacy of the working man; during his | 3 | | career, he worked with legendary civil rights leader Fannie Lou | 4 | | Hamer to challenge questionable polling practices in | 5 | | Mississippi; he helped to win a pioneering case against United | 6 | | Airlines when it fired Mary Burke Sprogis for getting married | 7 | | in 1966, helping her to win reinstatement and back pay; his | 8 | | work on an Iowa packinghouse case contributed to a National | 9 | | Labor Relations Board requirement that unionized firms must | 10 | | bargain with workers first if a company is considering a move; | 11 | | he also worked with "Chicago Seven" attorney William M. | 12 | | Kuntsler and others to represent Fannie Lou Hamer when she | 13 | | challenged the historic 1967 election in Sunflower, | 14 | | Mississippi, when she alleged voting-rights violations ranging | 15 | | from blacks being kept out of the polling place to insufficient | 16 | | voting assistance for some illiterate African-Americans; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Irving King enjoyed fishing in Wisconsin on land | 18 | | that still belongs to his relatives in Virginia; he also | 19 | | enjoyed music, especially the works of Beethoven and Mahler; | 20 | | and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Irving King is survived by his loving wife, | 22 | | Lillian; his children, Alan, Karen, and Michael; his sisters, | 23 | | Alma Winston and Verna Gray; his three granddaughters; and his | 24 | | great-granddaughter; therefore, be it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 2 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 3 | | his family and friends, the passing of Irving M. King; and be | 4 | | it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 6 | | presented to the family of Irving King as an expression of our | 7 | | sympathy.
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