MEMORIAL-DR. B. LAFAYETTE JR.

Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HR0730

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HR0730
LRB104 21174 LAW 35588 r
1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

2

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3
Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of civil
4
rights leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., who passed away on
5
March 5, 2026; and

6

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette played a pivotal role in civil
7
rights and voting activism in the 1960s and beyond; and

8

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette's activism began at age 12, when he
9
joined the NAACP after watching the abuse his grandmother
10
endured on a segregated bus; and

11

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette helped found the Student Nonviolent
12
Coordinating Committee at age 19 in 1960, continuing his
13
activism past high school; and

14

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette roomed with civil rights
15
trailblazer and future U.S. Representative John Lewis while
16
attending American Baptist Theological Seminary, known today
17
as American Baptist College, where the pair joined the Freedom
18
Riders shortly thereafter, becoming two of more than 300
19
Freedom Riders beaten and taken to Parchman Prison, also known
20
as Mississippi State Penitentiary, in 1961; and

HR0730
- 2 -
LRB104 21174 LAW 35588 r
1

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was named director of the Alabama
2
Voter Registration Campaign at age 22 in 1963; that same year,
3
he survived an assassination attempt, imploring an armed
4
neighbor trying to intervene to not shoot his attempted
5
assassin, a testament to his deep belief in nonviolence; and

6

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette began expanding his activism to
7
Illinois when he was recruited to the American Friends Service
8
Committee in Chicago in 1964; and

9

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was in Chicago when hundreds of
10
protesters were attacked in Selma, Alabama during Bloody
11
Sunday in 1965; undeterred, he organized a group to bus from
12
Chicago to Selma to continue protesting a few weeks later; and

13

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette joined the Chicago Freedom
14
Movement's Action Committee in 1966, working to end slums and
15
improve housing opportunities for Black Americans; and

16

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette was appointed as director of Dr.
17
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign in 1968
18
shortly before Dr. King's assassination; he spent time with
19
Dr. King on the morning of his assassination, whose last words
20
to him were about institutionalizing and internationalizing
21
nonviolence, which became the focus of his life's work; and

HR0730
- 3 -
LRB104 21174 LAW 35588 r
1

WHEREAS, Upon Dr. King's assassination, Dr. LaFayette
2
returned to American Baptist Theological Seminary, where he
3
received his bachelor's degree, and he proceeded to earn his
4
Master and Doctor of Education from Harvard University; and

5

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette held countless leadership positions
6
throughout his career, including serving as national program
7
director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
8
director of Peace and Justice in Latin America, and dean of the
9
graduate school at Alabama State University; no matter his
10
position, he continued his nonviolent teachings, research, and
11
activism across many platforms nationwide and internationally;
12
and

13

WHEREAS, Dr. LaFayette will be remembered for fighting for
14
equity and peaceful protest as part of his lifelong commitment
15
to civil rights and nonviolence; therefore, be it

16

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
17
HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
18
we mourn the passing of civil rights leader Dr. Bernard
19
LaFayette Jr. and extend our sincere condolences to his
20
family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
21
further

22

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be

HR0730
- 4 -
LRB104 21174 LAW 35588 r
1
presented to the family of Dr. LaFayette as an expression of
2
our deepest sympathy.

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