Resolution for Dr. Timuel D. Black
WHEREAS, It is with great pleasure that the members of City Council of the City of Chicago are hereby informed of the life of the trailblazer Dr.Timuel D. Black; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Timuel D. Black was born in Birmingham, Alabama on December 7,1918, and raised in Chicago since 1919 - a place He loves to call home. He is a revered and highly respected educator, political activist, community leader, oral historian, author and philosopher; and
WHEREAS, Tim attended Burke Elementary and DuSable High Schools in Chicago. During his school years, he worked as a paper boy for the Chicago Defender. As a young teen in the Great Depression, he worked as a delivery boy in a local grocery store, where he had his first experience as an organizer. In the early 1930's, he helped organize the "Don't Spend Your Money Where You Can't Work" campaign, which lead to the formation of the Negro Retail Clerks Union. In the 1940's he was an active organizer of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) which worked to desegregate Chicago department stores and public accommodations; and
WHEREAS, Tim served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and was awarded four battle stars and a Croix de Guerre, the highest military honor accorded by France to non-citizens. After the war, he enrolled at Roosevelt University, where he received his Bachelor's Degree. He later earned a Master's degree from the University of Chicago. Seeing the charismatic Dr. Martin Luther King on television inl955 motivated Timuel Black to abandon his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago to become an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement, even though he had completed all ofthe academic requirements except writing the dissertation. Immersing himself in civil rights work, Tim went on to serve as the Chicago Chair ofthe historic 1963 March on Washington; and
WHEREAS, He taught at a variety of public high schools and local colleges and universities, and he is most proud of the thousands of successful students whose lives he has touched; and
WHEREAS, Tim Black is a pioneer in the independent black political movement, being one ofthe first African Americans in Chicago to challenge the "Regular Democratic Organization", AKA "the Machine". He coined the phrase "Plantation Politics." Timuel Black has run for public office several times, and has spent his entire life furthering the cause of social justice. He played a leadership role in the massive voter registration campaign which resulted in the election of Mayor Harold Washington; and
WHEREAS, Two volumes of Black's three-volume work, Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Great Migration, have been published, and the third volume is in the works. These books chronicle the history of black Chicago from the 1920s to the present, through interviews he conducted with scores of accomplished individuals from many fields of endeavor; and
WHEREAS, His many recognitions, awards and honors include the Benton Medal for Distinguished Public Service and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Chicago, and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Roosevelt University. He is currently writing his memoirs, Sacred Ground; and
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BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and members ofthe Chicago City Council assemble this Third day of October 2012, do hereby congratulate Dr. Timuel D. Black on his years of service to the City of Chicago and hereby express our best wishes for his health and happiness; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to Dr. Timuel D. Black.
William D. Burns Alderman, 4th Ward
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