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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING AND RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF JOSIE BROWN CHILDS
WHEREAS, Josie Brown Childs was born on October 13, 1926 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to Julia Brown and Charles Washington and lived her childhood between Memphis, Tennessee and Vicksburg, Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, after moving to Chicago in 1949, Josie Brown would begin a long and storied career in service of the City; and
WHEREAS, Josie Brown Childs served at the beginning of the late Harold Washington’s first term as Mayor of Chicago, working as a specialist in the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events from 1983 to 1990; and
WHEREAS, after Josie Brown Childs’ retirement, Josie spent her years working with organizations like The Chicago Urban League, the NAACP, the Chicago Public Library, Planned Parenthood, and many others, producing large events and cultivating community across Chicago, Cook County, and the Great Lakes region; and
WHEREAS, Josie Brown Childs would develop into a civic leader and activist, notably founding and leading the Mayor Harold Washington Legacy Committee in 2013, where she would help establish a scholarship in the late Mayor’s name at his alma mater, Roosevelt University; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Public Library archived Josie Brown Childs’ immense efforts to document and promote African American cultural awareness as the “Josie Brown Childs Papers,” a 62-year archive of Chicago politics and cultural events in the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature at the Woodson Regional Library; and
WHEREAS, Josie Brown Childs leaves behind multiple generations of family and many loving communities across Chicago to mourn her passing from this life on Monday, February 13, 2023; and
WHEREAS, Josie Brown Childs lived a life that testified the importance of African American cultural awareness, and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF COOK COUNTY: the President and its members do hereby hold their reverence in honor of the vibrant life of Josie Brown Childs as they offer their deepest condolences to her friends, family, and communities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Josie Brown Childs as an honorable expression of appreciation for her life and work.
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