Resolution Recognizing the Passage of United States Senate Resolution 39 and Honoring Doria Dee Johnson

RESOLUTION

Sponsored by

THE HONORABLE LARRY SUFFREDIN, COUNTY COMMISSIONER

Co-Sponsored by

THE HONORABLE JOHN H. STROGER, JR., PRESIDENT, JERRY BUTLER,

FORREST CLAYPOOL, EARLEAN COLLINS, JOHN P. DALEY,

ELIZABETH ANN DOODY GORMAN, GREGG GOSLIN, CARL R. HANSEN,

ROBERTO MALDONADO, JOSEPH MARIO MORENO, JOAN PATRICIA MURPHY,

ANTHONY J. PERAICA, MIKE QUIGLEY, PETER N. SILVESTRI, DEBORAH SIMS

AND BOBBIE L. STEELE, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Recognizing the Passage of United States Senate Resolution 39 and

Honoring Doria Dee Johnson
 
WHEREAS, on June 13, 2005, the United States Senate took a historic step by approving Resolution 39 which called for the lawmakers to apologize to lynching victims, survivors and their descendants; and

WHERAS, Resolution 39 represents the first time the Senate has apologized for the nation’s treatment of African Americans; and

WHEREAS, Resolution 39 specifically expresses remorse for the failure of the United States Government to outlaw a crime that took the lives of at least 4,742 people, most of them African American men, from 1882 to 1968; and

WHEREAS, lynching occurred in all but four states in the contiguous United States and less than 1 percent of perpetrators were brought to justice; and

WHEREAS, historically, powerful southern Senators blocked federal anti-lynching legislation for decades despite the fact that the U.S. House of Representatives three times passed measures to make lynching a federal offense, more than 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in the first half of the 20th Century and seven Presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to take action against lynching; and

WHEREAS, the effort to pass Resolution 39 was lead by Senators George Allen (R-Va) and Mary Landrieu (D-La) who obtained the support of 78 additional Senators who joined the resolution as co-sponsors; and

WHEREAS, Resolution 39 was passed in large part because lynching survivors and the descendants of victims would not let the brutal crimes be forgotten and insisted that the United States Senate acknowledge and apologize for their predecessors’ failure to take action to stop lynching; and

WHEREAS, as the great-great granddaughter of lynching victim Anthony P. Crawford, who was brutally murdered in 1916 in Abbeville, South Carolina, Doria Dee Johnson and her family were invited to Washington, D.C. to witness the Senate’s voice vote for Resolution 39; and

WHEREAS, Doria Dee Johnson, a lifelong Evanston resident, is one of the individuals who fought for the passage of Resolution 39 as a member of the United States Senate Steering Committee for the Anti-Lynching Apology; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Johnson has spent much of her professional life working to teach people the history of lynchings and how it relates to families’ survival; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Johnson is an independent researcher, author and frequent lecturer on the subject of lynchings; she has lectured at high schools, universities and conferences across the county and has appeared in numerous media outlets including national television programs such as ABC Nightline, national radio programs such as National Public Radio, and national and local newspapers such as USA Today and The Chicago Tribune; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Johnson has worked tirelessly in her local community and Countywide to teach people about this awful period in the nation’s history; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Johnson is president of the Anthony Crawford Remembered Memorial Committee, a trustee of the Evanston Historical Society and a trustee of Shorefront N.F.P. an organization that collects, preserves, interprets, publishes and exhibits the history of the African American experience on Chicago’s North Shore.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Commissioners of Cook County does hereby recognize the historical action taken by the United States Senate when it passed Resolution 39 on June 13, 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board of Commissioners of Cook County does hereby honor Doria Dee Johnson for her work to pass Resolution 39 and educate people about the history of lynching; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board of Commissioners of Cook County does hereby thank Doria Dee Johnson for sharing and preserving the story of her great-great grandfather Anthony P. Crawford and her family; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this Resolution be tendered to Doria Dee Johnson as a symbol of this auspicious occasion and let it also be spread upon the official proceedings of this Honorable Body.

Approved and adopted this 12th day of July 2005.