Office of the City Clerk - Record #: R2018-729

• Record #: R2018-729
• Type: Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• Intro date: 6/27/2018
• Final action: 6/27/2018
• Title: Congratulations extended to George Giles American Legion Post No. 87 on 99th anniversary and recognition as first African American post of American Legion
• Sponsors: Burke, Edward M.

Date	Journal Page Number	Action By	Action	Result
6/27/2018		City Council	Introduced (Agreed Calendar)
6/27/2018	81167	City Council	Adopted	Pass

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization and is currently the nation's largest wartime veterans service organization; and

WHEREAS, the American Legion stands behind the issues most important to the nation's veteran community and raises millions of dollars in donations at the local, state and national levels to assist veterans and their families during times of need and to provide college scholarship opportunities; and

WHEREAS, the George L. Giles American Legion Post #87, founded on August 15, 1919 in Chicago, is located on the City's South Side at 5745 South State Street; and

WHEREAS, Earl B. Dickerson, the first African-American Democratic alderman to serve on Chicago's City Council from 1939 to 1943, organized the George L. Giles American Legion Post #87; and

WHEREAS, Earl B. Dickerson also served as the Post's commander for four years; and

WHEREAS, Earl B. Dickerson became the first African-American graduate of the University of Chicago Law School in 1920; and

WHEREAS, Earl B. Dickerson's remarkable legal and political career advancing civil rights as a pioneering lawyer, alderman of the 2nd Ward, and assistant Illinois State Attorney General is marked by many superlatives; and

WHEREAS, in addition, Earl B. Dickerson served as an officer in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I; and

WHEREAS, the George L. Giles American Legion Post #87 is named after Second Lieutenant George L. Giles, an Illinois native, killed in France during World War I at the age of nineteen; and

BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this twenty-seventh day of June, 2018, do hereby recognize and congratulate the George Giles American Legion Post in celebration of its ninety-nine years of dedicated commitment to promoting the interests of all veterans and service members throughout Chicago, past and present, and as the first Africa...