TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM COUSINS, JR.
WHEREAS, in His infinite wisdom, Almighty God has called His good and faithful servant, the Honorable William Cousins, Jr., after fourscore and ten years of a remarkable and well-spent life; and
WHEREAS, William Cousins, Jr. started life in the tiny central Mississippi cotton community of Swiftown in 1927. His family moved to Memphis, Tennessee when he was four and eventually to this city's South Side in 1938 where he attended Forestville Elementary School before graduating from DuSable High School in 1945. Cousins enrolled at the University of Illinois where he graduated with honors, receiving a Bachelor's degree in Political Science in 1948. He was admitted to four different law schools, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Michigan, but matriculated at Harvard Law School where he received an LL.B. in 1951; and
WHEREAS, William Cousins, Jr. served his country in combat as lieutenant commissioned in the U.S. Army infantry during the Korean conflict from 1951 to 1953. He continued as an active army reservist for the next two decades and retired as a lieutenant colonel. While stationed in Japan, he met his wife, Hiroko. Their 52-year union, blessed with four children, Cheryl, Noel, Yul and Gail as well as four grandchildren, ended only in her passing in 2005; and
WHEREAS, in 1953, Cousins began his law career as an attorney for Chicago Title & Trust Co. He started his public service as an assistant state's attorney from 1957 until 1961. After leaving the States Attorney's office, Cousins and three other African-American attorneys, all Harvard Law School graduates, formed a law firm. Cousins devoted much of his time to community affairs and led the Chatham-Avalon Park Community Council in actively opposing high-rise housing in that neighborhood; and
WHEREAS, By the late 1960's, Cousins ran for a seat on Chicago's City Council with the slogan "unbowed, unbossed and unbought," and won, becoming the first black independent alderm...
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