Bill Text: IL HR0264 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Recognizes the Selma to Montgomery marches that were part of the 1965 Voting Rights Movement.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-03-27 - Added Co-Sponsor Rep. Camille Y. Lilly [HR0264 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2015-HR0264-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, In March of 1965, a series of marches took place | ||||||
3 | from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama as part of the | ||||||
4 | Voting Rights Movement that had began a few years prior; | ||||||
5 | numerous African-American citizens made the 54-mile walk from | ||||||
6 | Selma to the Alabama state capitol to demonstrate their desire | ||||||
7 | to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of | ||||||
8 | segregationist repression; and
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9 | WHEREAS, The first march took place on March 7, 1965; it | ||||||
10 | was interrupted when the 600 marchers were attacked at the | ||||||
11 | Edmund Pettus Bridge after leaving Selma, becoming known as | ||||||
12 | "Bloody Sunday"; and
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13 | WHEREAS, The second march, "Turnaround Tuesday", took | ||||||
14 | place on March 9, 1965; the march was to be "ceremonial" with | ||||||
15 | participants halting when ordered to do so, in compliance with | ||||||
16 | a legal injunction against marching any further; and
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17 | WHEREAS, On March 21, 1965, close to 8,000 people began the | ||||||
18 | third march, and, on March 25, 25,000 people arrived at the | ||||||
19 | steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building to witness Dr. | ||||||
20 | Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his "How Long, Not Long" | ||||||
21 | speech; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The marches received national and international | ||||||
2 | coverage and had a powerful effect on Washington, D.C. and the | ||||||
3 | rest of the country, and, on March 15, 1965, President Lyndon | ||||||
4 | Johnson presented to Congress the bill that would become the | ||||||
5 | Voting Rights Act; and
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6 | WHEREAS, In 1960, there were 53,336 African-American | ||||||
7 | voters in the State of Alabama, and, 3 decades later, there | ||||||
8 | were 537,285; in 1996, the 54-mile Selma-to-Montgomery | ||||||
9 | National Historic Trail was established, preserved by the | ||||||
10 | National Park Service; therefore, be it
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11 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
12 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
13 | recognize the Selma to Montgomery marches that took place in | ||||||
14 | March of 1965 and the continuing struggle to ensure voting | ||||||
15 | rights are allowed to be exercised by all.
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