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 t...
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