Office of the City Clerk - Record #: R2016-148

• Record #: R2016-148
• Type: Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• Intro date: 2/10/2016
• Final action: 2/10/2016
• Title: Gratitude extended to Montford Point Marines for military service
• Sponsors: Emanuel, Rahm, Cardenas, George A., Burke, Edward M., Solis, Daniel, Taliaferro, Chris, Santiago, Milagros, Villegas, Gilbert

Date	Journal Page Number	Action By	Action	Result
2/10/2016		City Council	Rules Suspended - Immediate Consideration
2/10/2016	17819	City Council	Adopted	Pass

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
CITY OF CHICAGO
RAHM EMANUEL
MAYOR
February 10,2016










TO THE HONORABLE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO


Ladies and Gentlemen:

I transmit herewith a resolution, together with Aldermen Cardenas, Villegas, Solis, Burke, Taliaferro, and Santiago, regarding the Montford Point Marines.

Your favorable consideration of this resolution will be appreciated.

Mayor

Very truly yours,
/% e

resolution
adopted by (Jhe Qity Qouncil of tke Qity of Qkicago, Illinois
ALDERMEN GEORGE A. CARDENAS, GILBERT VILLEGAS, DANIEL SOLIS,
EDWARD M. BURKE, CHRISTOPHER TALIAFERRO AND MILLY SANTIAGO
resented by MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL 0M FEBRUARY 10, 2016

^tyQllBTBOlS • Since 1775, the United States Marine Corps has served our country in peace and wartime; and

WHEREAS, On June 25, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, establishing the fair employment practices that began the process of ending discrimination in the Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS, A board headed by Brigadier General Keller E. Rocher studied the integration of African Americans into the Marines' Composite Defense Battalion, which included coastal artillery, antiaircraft, infantry, and tanks; and

WHEREAS, In 1942, President Roosevelt issued a presidential directive allowing African Americans the opportunity to serve in the Marine Corps. The initial wave of recruits, African Americans from every state in the union, were stationed at Montford Point, a facility at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, Approximately twenty thousand African-American Marines received basic training at Montford Point between 1942 and 1949; and

WHEREAS, In July 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which required the desegregation of the military. Montford Point was deactivated soon thereafter, and new black recruits were sent to Parris Island and Camp Pendleton; and

WHEREAS, Twenty years after World War II, in the summer of 1965, an enterprising group of ...