Bill Text: IL HR0730 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the passing of civil rights leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Passed) 2026-03-18 - Resolution Adopted [HR0730 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HR0730-Introduced.html

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HR0730 LRB104 21174 LAW 35588 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of civil
rights leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., who passed away on
March 5, 2026; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette played a pivotal role in civil
rights and voting activism in the 1960s and beyond; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette's activism began at age 12, when he
joined the NAACP after watching the abuse his grandmother
endured on a segregated bus; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette helped found the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee at age 19 in 1960, continuing his
activism past high school; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette roomed with civil rights
trailblazer and future U.S. Representative John Lewis while
attending American Baptist Theological Seminary, known today
as American Baptist College, where the pair joined the Freedom
Riders shortly thereafter, becoming two of more than 300
Freedom Riders beaten and taken to Parchman Prison, also known
as Mississippi State Penitentiary, in 1961; and

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WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was named director of the Alabama
Voter Registration Campaign at age 22 in 1963; that same year,
he survived an assassination attempt, imploring an armed
neighbor trying to intervene to not shoot his attempted
assassin, a testament to his deep belief in nonviolence; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette began expanding his activism to
Illinois when he was recruited to the American Friends Service
Committee in Chicago in 1964; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was in Chicago when hundreds of
protesters were attacked in Selma, Alabama during Bloody
Sunday in 1965; undeterred, he organized a group to bus from
Chicago to Selma to continue protesting a few weeks later; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette joined the Chicago Freedom
Movement's Action Committee in 1966, working to end slums and
improve housing opportunities for Black Americans; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was appointed as director of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign in 1968
shortly before Dr. King's assassination; he spent time with
Dr. King on the morning of his assassination, whose last words
to him were about institutionalizing and internationalizing
nonviolence, which became the focus of his life's work; and

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WHEREAS, Upon Dr. King's assassination, Dr. LaFayette
returned to American Baptist Theological Seminary, where he
received his bachelor's degree, and he proceeded to earn his
Master and Doctor of Education from Harvard University; and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette held countless leadership positions
throughout his career, including serving as national program
director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
director of Peace and Justice in Latin America, and dean of the
graduate school at Alabama State University; no matter his
position, he continued his nonviolent teachings, research, and
activism across many platforms nationwide and internationally;
and
WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette will be remembered for fighting for
equity and peaceful protest as part of his lifelong commitment
to civil rights and nonviolence; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we mourn the passing of civil rights leader Dr. Bernard
LaFayette Jr. and extend our sincere condolences to his
family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be

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presented to the family of Dr. LaFayette as an expression of
our deepest sympathy.