A Resolution Honoring the Life & Legacy of Leola Spann
ADOPTED by The City Council
Of the City of Chicago, Illinois Presented by Alderman Emma Mitts on April 10. 2013
WHEREAS. There was once a woman named Leola Spann, who was both tender and tough, as well as a. grandmotherly yet fiery advocate lor the poor and disenfranchised. Mrs. Spann was well-known, revered and respected as a formidable force devoted to improving opportunities in Chicago's Austin neighborhood: and
WHEREAS. Mrs. Eeola Spann was the longtime president of'die Noithwesr. Austin Council, (NAC); and
WHEREAS, During her 22-year with die Northwest Ausdn Council. Mrs. Spann launched multi-faceted efforts to introduce after-school programs, scolded slumlords into fixing there buildings and lead the first known lawsuit to use nuisance abatement laws to shut down a drug den. The Northwest Austin Council is located at. .5780 W, Division St Chicago, IL 606751; and
WHEREAS, She. fought tirelessly to rid the west side of drug dealers ami gangs, while working with elected officials and police to improve the community's overall quality of life; and
WHEREAS, Leola Spann was a community organizer and activist, who siood up to neighborhood bullies, criminals and oilier negative forces, helped slow down speeders on the streets of Austin and fought big utility companies as a champion of the poor and elderly; and
WHEREAS, Leola Spann was committed totally to the Austin community and to the people, who lived and worked there, calling diem her 'heroes5; and
WHEREAS, -She was considered die surrogate mother of the neighborhood, and throughout, her long her activism career, she developed a well-earned reputation tor blunt honesty, steely determination and integrity. The bottom line was thai she was deeply respected by everyone who knew her, whether friend or foe; and
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WHEREAS, Without Leola Spann, many (if* die things accomplished hv Northwest Austin Council and by a diverse array of local clergy, community, business, and religious leaders and public officials out here would not have been accomplished; and
WHEREAS, She had no problem eon I routing the chug dealers and odicr negative forces impacting the. community. She was also willing to work hard and trv to organize people, to help them understand thai the drug dealers are no stronger than what the eommuniiy allows them 10 be; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Spann, died ai age 71 of pulmonary fibrosis on Easter. March 27. 200,5 atjoiiet Community Hospice, where she had lived for a short time; and
WHEREAS. Born in Natchez, Miss.,, Mrs. Spann. grew up in the deep South. She migrated up North with her family to Chicago in the late 1 :e>c.s with her first husband, Edward W illiams. They eventually divorced in the late 1960s. In 1968. she took a second turn at matrimony, and married William Spann, who passed awav in 1992; and
WHEREAS. Mrs. Spann had a varied work history, having been employed ai a foundry and on an airplane pans assembly hue while raising three daughters, She returned to Mississippi in the mid-1970s to care for an ailing grandmother una! she made her heavenly transition. When she returned to Chicago in 1.983, she re.'ired and moved next door to her daughter Anita Brown m die Austin neighborhood: and
WHEREAS, According to her legend, withm a short six monlh period. Mrs. Spann knew everyone who lived on the block. Dunng .her arrival in the are;?, u was during a transitional period for the neighborhood, when white residents were moving out and African-Americans and Hispanics were moving in; and
WHEREAS. Tensions between the races ran high, and as die white flight, continued, Mrs. Spann somewhat angrily noticed dial basic services were being ignored. Therefore she immediately mobilized residents to draw the city's attention ro community concerns; and
WHEREAS. As a key leader in her community. Leola Spann was always willing to ask the hard but necessary questions - - such as 'Why can't we have diis;\ arid Why don't we have thisi>!; and 2 | P a g e
WHEREAS, As parr ol her newfound activism. Mrs. Spann \ oaaueereo at fN-Northwest Austin Council and quickly worked her way up from answering phones 10 being executive director, then president, a role she held until her death. She \.\>\ had a. love tor people and siie iust wanted people to he treated ianiv; and
WTIEREAS, Mrs. S]>ann's grass-roots methods helped build the Northwest Austin Council into a group that made positive change.-, in the cominimilv. a legacv that lasts even loda\; and
WHEREAS, Because Mrs. Spann had witnessed Trst-hand the inequality and racism that exisied, she committed her life and sen-ice to making sure dial" future, generations didn't suiter like she had; and
WHEREAS, Alter many years of dedicated service to the Austin community, she continued to give her lime to working with local politician^ in Chicago, workmi; on whatever issues she could. Her heart was so big if had room for everyone with whom she crossed paths. Her love, and legacy of tremendous work is instilled at the hearts of many and her memory will live forever;-, and
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of die City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled the tenth day of April, 201 ii do hereby applaud exceptional efforts on the behalf of the citi/ens of Chicago; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution will be presented to die family of Lccia Spann as a sign of our sympathy and good well wishes.
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Emma Mitts, A.lderman-87"' Warn
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