Full Text of HR0610 93rd General Assembly
HR0610 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the | 3 |
| State of Illinois learned with regret of the death of Dr. Jacob | 4 |
| Hudson Carruthers, Jr., of Chicago on Sunday, January 4, 2004; | 5 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr. was born February 15, | 7 |
| 1930, in Dallas; he excelled academically; following | 8 |
| graduation from Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas, | 9 |
| he attended Samuel Houston College in Austin, Texas, where he | 10 |
| earned a bachelor's degree; after the Sweatt vs. Painter United | 11 |
| States Supreme Court decision in 1950, he along with Heman | 12 |
| Marion Sweatt and three other African Americans integrated the | 13 |
| University of Texas Law School; jurisprudence, however, was not | 14 |
| his calling, and he did not return the following year; in 1951, | 15 |
| facing the draft and the Korean War, he volunteered for the | 16 |
| United States Air Force; after serving in the Air Force, he | 17 |
| enrolled in Texas Southern University where he earned a | 18 |
| master's degree in government; and
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| WHEREAS, His passion for learning and a sense of service | 20 |
| led him back to the classroom; from 1961 to 1964, Dr. | 21 |
| Carruthers taught at Prairie View College in Texas; after being | 22 |
| the first African American to earn a doctorate in political | 23 |
| science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, he taught | 24 |
| at Kansas State College in Pittsburg, Kansas, for two years; | 25 |
| thereafter, his career led him to Chicago, and in 1968, he | 26 |
| joined the faculty of the Department of Inner City Studies | 27 |
| Education at the Center of Inner City Studies of Northeastern | 28 |
| Illinois University, where he taught for 32 years; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Carruthers' leadership pioneered the | 30 |
| development of both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Inner | 31 |
| City Studies, which influenced the development of hundreds of | 32 |
| students who sought careers working in the urban environment of |
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| the inner city; he contributed to the development of the Inner | 2 |
| City Studies academic discipline in the United States, and he | 3 |
| fostered the Chicago School of African Centered Thought that | 4 |
| manifested itself in the community based Communiversity; and
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| WHEREAS, Serving as a consultant on African centered | 6 |
| education to the Chicago Public Schools and other school | 7 |
| systems throughout the United States, Dr. Carruthers was | 8 |
| influential in the African centered education movement; he was | 9 |
| a cofounder of the teacher training program, Teaching About | 10 |
| Africa; he was also sought after nationally and internationally | 11 |
| as a lecturer on African history; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Carruthers established himself through his | 13 |
| work with leading African and African-American scholars in the | 14 |
| world through his leadership in the development of a plan to | 15 |
| rewrite African history under the aegis of the African World | 16 |
| History Project of the Association for the Study of Classical | 17 |
| African Civilizations (ASCAC); he was a founding member of the | 18 |
| Kemetic Institute and ASCAC; and | 19 |
| WHEREAS, Dr. Carruthers authored several important books | 20 |
| that paved the way and provided the framework for the African | 21 |
| centered approach to the research and study of Classical | 22 |
| African history and African civilization; his works include: | 23 |
| Intellectual Warfare (1999), Mdw Ntr (1995), Essays in Ancient | 24 |
| Egyptian Studies (1984), and The Irritated Genie (1985); other | 25 |
| significant works include Science and Oppression (1972) and | 26 |
| African or American (1994); he coedited Reconstructing Kemetic | 27 |
| Culture (1990), The African Worldview (1986), and The | 28 |
| Preliminary Challenge (1997); many of his works challenged the | 29 |
| prevailing ideas in the field of Egyptology as well as the role | 30 |
| of African people in the development of civilization in the | 31 |
| ancient Nile Valley; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1981, Dr. Carruthers became the High Priest of |
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| the Temple of the African Community of Chicago that was | 2 |
| established to meet the spiritual needs of those who sought to | 3 |
| practice ancient Nile Valley spirituality; in 1995, Dr. | 4 |
| Carruthers was initiated into elderhood in a community ritual | 5 |
| at which time he took the name Jedi Shemsu Jehewty (the one who | 6 |
| speaks is a follower of Jehewty); and
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| WHEREAS, The passing of Dr. Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr., | 8 |
| has been deeply felt by many, especially his wife, Linda (Ifé); | 9 |
| his sons, Jacob III, Darnell, and Christopher; his daughter, | 10 |
| Tawakalitu Jogunosimi; his niece, Margaret Lee (Georges), who | 11 |
| he considered a daughter; his grandchildren, Jacqueline and | 12 |
| Jacob IV; his great-grandchildren, Lynon and Makala; his | 13 |
| sister, Carol Lee (Charles); his brothers, Riley and Andrew | 14 |
| (Willie); and his many nieces, nephews, and cousins; therefore, | 15 |
| be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 18 |
| mourn the passing of Dr. Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr., who was | 19 |
| a distinguished African-American scholar, historian, and | 20 |
| researcher; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 22 |
| presented to the family of Dr. Carruthers as an expression of | 23 |
| our deepest sympathy during their time of bereavement.
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