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2000 SESSION

005147444
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 275
Offered February 9, 2000
In memory of Dr. James Farmer.
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Patrons-- Houck, Barry, Bolling, Byrne, Colgan, Couric, Edwards, Forbes, Hanger, Hawkins, Holland, Howell, Lambert, Lucas, Marsh, Martin, Marye, Maxwell, Miller, K.G., Miller, Y.B., Mims, Newman, Norment, Potts, Puckett, Puller, Quayle, Rerras, Reynolds, Saslaw, Schrock, Stolle, Stosch, Ticer, Trumbo, Wampler, Watkins, Whipple and Williams; Delegates: Abbitt, Albo, Almand, Barlow, Baskerville, Bloxom, Bryant, Cantor, Christian, Councill, Cox, Cranwell, Crittenden, Darner, DeBoer, Devolites, Dickinson, Dillard, Griffith, Hall, Harris, Howell, Ingram, Johnson, Jones, D.C., Jones, J.C., Jones, S.C., Landes, Larrabee, Louderback, Marshall, May, McClure, McEachin, Melvin, Moran, Morgan, Orrock, Phillips, Purkey, Robinson, Scott, Sherwood, Spruill, Stump, Suit, Tate, Van Landingham, Wagner, Watts and Weatherholtz
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WHEREAS, Dr. James Farmer, a principal founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and a leader who shaped the United States civil rights struggle in the mid-1950s and 1960s, passed away on Friday, July 9, 1999; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Farmer worked hand-in-hand with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Whitney Young of the Urban League, and Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during the civil rights struggle during the 1960s; and

WHEREAS, under the leadership and direction of Dr. Farmer, CORE forced the issue of desegregation in interstate transportation with the Freedom Rides of 1961 and pioneered nonviolent direct action to fight discrimination; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Farmer, the son of a minister and the grandson of a slave, was prominent among the brave men and women who sacrificed their personal safety, and sometimes their lives, to highlight the ugliness of segregation and secure equal justice; and

WHEREAS, a resident of Spotsylvania and a Distinguished College Professor of History and American Studies at Mary Washington College, Dr. Farmer is the author of Freedom -- When? and his award-winning autobiography, Lay Bare the Heart; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Farmer was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which praises "one of the nation's most influential civil rights leaders" who formed the Congress of Racial Equality, which became a catalyst in the civil rights movement"; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the passing of a national leader and a great Virginian, Dr. James Farmer; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the daughters of Dr. James Farmer in honor of his life and his tremendous achievements.