Full Text of HR1211 096th General Assembly
HR1211 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of
Dorothy | 4 |
| Irene Height, who passed away on April 20, 2010; and
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| WHEREAS, Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia, and | 6 |
| reared in Rankin, Pennsylvania; and
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| WHEREAS, Dorothy Height was a key figure throughout the | 8 |
| civil rights movement; her career as a civil rights advocate | 9 |
| began in 1930, when she co-led protests against lynching in | 10 |
| Times Square; in 1933, she became a leader of the United | 11 |
| Christian Youth Movement of North America in the New Deal era; | 12 |
| she served on the National Board of the YWCA in the mid-1940s | 13 |
| and spearheaded the organization's racial justice initiatives; | 14 |
| from 1947 to 1956, she served as the 10th national president of | 15 |
| Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and helped to expand the | 16 |
| organization's social activism in the United States and abroad; | 17 |
| she pursued studies at New York University, where she earned | 18 |
| her master's degree in social work; and
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| WHEREAS, Dorothy Height was the female team leader among | 20 |
| the six leaders of the civil rights movement which included Dr. | 21 |
| Martin Luther King Jr.; At the 1963 March on Washington, she | 22 |
| was on the platform when King delivered his "I Have a Dream" |
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| speech after convincing the leadership to allow the young | 2 |
| preacher to speak last and for longer than 5 minutes; and
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| WHEREAS, Dorothy Height's name is synonymous with the | 4 |
| National Council of Negro Women, an organization she headed | 5 |
| from 1957, when she was elected the organization's 4th national | 6 |
| president, until 1998, when she became Chair of the Board and | 7 |
| President Emerita, serving in those capacities until her | 8 |
| passing; during the civil rights era, she led the NCNW to deal | 9 |
| with unmet needs of women and their families by combating | 10 |
| hunger and establishing decent housing and home ownership | 11 |
| programs through the federal government for low-income | 12 |
| families; and | 13 |
| WHEREAS, For her years of service to the nation, which | 14 |
| stretched back to her work with former First Lady Eleanor | 15 |
| Roosevelt, Dorothy Height was awarded America's two highest | 16 |
| civilian awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 by | 17 |
| President Bill Clinton and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004 | 18 |
| through an act of Congress; she also received 36 honorary | 19 |
| degrees and the NAACP's Spingarn Medal; and
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| WHEREAS, Dorothy Height is survived by her sister, | 21 |
| Athanette Aldridge; her nephews, Phillip Aldridge, Bernard | 22 |
| Randolph (Billie Jean), and Daniel Aldridge, Jr. (Dorothy); her | 23 |
| nieces, Jean Randolph Linzey (Camerson Sr.) and Leuetta |
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| Henderson; her many great and great-great nieces and nephews; | 2 |
| her other relatives and friends, including her devoted | 3 |
| friend/daughter, the Honorable Alexis Herman Franklin; her | 4 |
| beloved National Council of Negro Women family; and her devoted | 5 |
| caregiver of 10 years, Mary Brown; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 7 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 8 |
| mourn, along with her family and friends, the passing of | 9 |
| Dorothy Irene Height and honor her for her many contributions | 10 |
| to our nation and the civil rights movement; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 |
| presented to the family of Dorothy Height as an expression of | 13 |
| our sympathy.
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