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92_HR0630 LRB9215473BHcs 1 HOUSE RESOLUTION 2 WHEREAS, Native Chicagoan Robert Townsend, actor and 3 director, stepped forward to take part in the making of an 4 historically important, factually-based film by the ShowTime 5 Network that acknowledges on a national level the African 6 American contributions to the success of the historically 7 significant Pullman story and most importantly to America's 8 Labor History; and 9 WHEREAS, Robert Townsend directed the film 10,000 Black 10 Men Named George, the factually-based historically important 11 film based on the life of labor organizer and civil rights 12 leader Asa Philip Randolph, who faced racism and political 13 corruption in a 12-year battle to unionize railway porters in 14 the 1920s and '30s; the porters worked in demeaning 15 conditions for shameful wages while the powerful Pullman 16 Company waged a campaign of fear fuelled by the spreading of 17 lies and destructive innuendo to the public against Mr. 18 Randolph and the porters; and 19 WHEREAS, Through that struggle, the first African 20 American labor union was chartered in the United States under 21 the American Federation of Labor as the Brotherhood of 22 Sleeping Car Porters; and 23 WHEREAS, Many of those men and women were Illinoisans; 24 and 25 WHEREAS, The telling of this story will help to introduce 26 this important overlooked piece of history as well as the 27 existence of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, an 28 Illinois institution named in their honor for new generations 29 for years to come; therefore, be it 30 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 31 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS that -2- LRB9215473BHcs 1 we congratulate Robert Townsend for his excellence in acting 2 and the direction of the film 10,000 Black Men Named George; 3 and be it further 4 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be sent 5 to Robert Townsend with our most sincere gratitude.