A house RESOLUTION

to recognize and honor Shirley Caldwell Pride for her contribution to equal opportunity for employment in the Palmetto State and to express appreciation for her storied career in state government.

Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is pleased to commend Shirley Pride, a citizen of South Carolina all of her life, who earned a bachelor's degree from Benedict College in 1964 and began a career in state government at the athletic department at the South Carolina State College; and

Whereas, in 1965, she joined the staff as an employment counselor at the Employment Guidance Center, which later became the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council, and then she became the C.E.T.A. administrator for the Columbia Housing Authority in 1979; and

Whereas, Ms. Pride joined the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission as a staff assistant in the Division of Community Relations on August 15, 1980, and in 1981, she was promoted to the role of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission consultant in the Division of Technical Services; and

Whereas, she later joined the Division of Intake and Referral as an intake investigator. In 1990, she became a staff investigator in the Division of Age and Disability Investigations. In 1996, she subsequently returned to the Division of Intake and Referral as a senior intake investigator; and

Whereas, Ms. Pride was active in professional organizations related to her career in state service, including serving on the South Carolina State Employees Association as both the commission's agency representative and as a member of the board of directors, and as a member of both the National Association of Human Rights Workers and the American Association for Affirmative Action; and

Whereas, dedicated to her community, Ms. Pride has been a member of the Beautification Committee of the Windsor Lake Homeowners Association and volunteered her service through participation in the Meals on Wheels program, the Richland County Sheriff's Department's Citizens Academy Alumni Association, and with the United Way of the Midlands. Since 1995, she has been a blood donor for the American Red Cross; and

Whereas, she is a faithful and active member of the First Nazareth Baptist Church and of the Columbia Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and

Whereas, after Ms. Pride retired from South Carolina state government service at the end of 2005, she was honored with the State Governor's Award on April 19, 2006; and

Whereas, on March 2, 2021, her name was unveiled on a historic marker commemorating the 1961 State House March when several hundred protestors marched onto the grounds of the South Carolina State House while the Legislature was in session to demonstrate and voice their opposition to segregation. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, recognize and honor Shirley Caldwell Pride for her contribution to equal opportunity for employment in the Palmetto State and express appreciation for her storied career in state government.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Shirley Caldwell Pride.

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