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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

  
 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of 
3Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Reverend 
4Addie Wyatt, who passed away on March 28, 2012; and
  
 
5    WHEREAS, She married the late Reverend Dr. Claude Wyatt on 
6May 12, 1940; they were married for 69 years; during that time, 
7they founded and co-pastored the Vernon Park Church of God in 
8Chicago and had 2 sons, Claude S. Wyatt and Renaldo Wyatt; and
  
 
9    WHEREAS, She was born on March 28, 1924 in Brookhaven, 
10Mississippi to Ambrose and Maggie Cameron and was a personal 
11friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; she came to Chicago in 
121930, when she was 6 years old, and when her mother died, she 
13raised her siblings; and
  
 
14    WHEREAS, She tried out for a typist job but was told she 
15failed the test, so she began working at a meat packing company 
16in 1941, where she worked until 1953; once there, she was 
17elected vice president of the United Packinghouse Workers of 
18America Local 56; she was the first African-American to hold 
19such a high labor union position; she went on to become the 
20director of the Women's Affairs and Human Rights Departments of 
21the Amalgamated Meat Cutters; and
  
 
 
 
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1    WHEREAS, In the 1960s, Eleanor Roosevelt honored her 
2leadership skills by appointing her to a position on the 
3Protective Labor Legislation Committee of the United States 
4Commission on the Status of Women; in the 1970s, she held a 
5powerful position in the United Food and Commercial Workers 
6International Union, and in 1974, she founded the Coalition of 
7Labor Union Women; in 1976, she became the international vice 
8president of the United Food and Commercial Workers; and
 
9    WHEREAS,
 She and her husband always took time to give back 
10to the community, especially with their civil rights work; she 
11was ordained in 1955 as a Church of God minister; her husband 
12was also ordained in the same faith; together they worked with 
13Dr. King, including at the March on Washington, the march from 
14Selma to Montgomery, and at other civil rights events; and
  
 
15    WHEREAS, Reverend Wyatt was a founder and board member of 
16Operation Breadbasket; she also worked very closely with the 
17Southern Christian Leadership Conference as an advisor; she and 
18her husband founded the Wyatt Choral Ensemble in 1944; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Reverend Wyatt is survived by her son, Claude, and 
20numerous grandchildren; therefore, be it
  
 
21    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
22NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that 
 
 
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1we mourn, along with her family and friends, the passing of 
2Reverend Addie Wyatt; and be it further
  
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
4presented to the family of Reverend Addie Wyatt as a symbol of 
5our sincere sympathy.