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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION HONORING THE AMAZING LIFE OF SUE ISH
WHEREAS, Sue Barnett Ish was born on February 3, 1920 in Boynton, Oklahoma, the first born of Etta Moten and Curtis Brooks and later her sisters, Gladys and Etta Vee were born; and
WHEREAS, after a brief marriage, Sue's mother returned to her home with her three daughters in Kansas City, where Sue's grandfather Rev. Freeman Moten and wife Ida helped to raise the three daughters so her mother could attend University of Kansas and pursue a professional career as a concert singer and performing artist; and
WHEREAS, in 1934, Sue's mother married Claude Barnett, founder of Associate Negro Press and he adopted the three daughters; At the age of 16, Sue graduated from Lincoln High School in Kansas City and attended the Historically Black Talladega College where she met her future husband Stanley Ish Jr.; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from Talladega, Sue attended the University of Chicago Masters program to study English Literature; however, her advanced education was interrupted when she and Stanley Ish Jr. married and moved to Marion Arkansas and later Memphis Tennessee where Stanley practiced medicine as a surgeon and in 1951 Sue gave birth to their only child, Etta Sue Ish; and
WHEREAS, it was in Memphis that Sue became very active as a civil rights advocate as Memphis was racially segregated at the time and Sue was very involved in the organized boycotts and sit-ins as a member of the NAACP, Urban League and other civil rights organizations; and
WHEREAS, in 1965, her husband passed away after a battle with lung cancer and Sue and her daughter Etta Sue returned to her parents' home in Chicago, IL, and at the age of 45, Sue began a career with the City of Chicago as an Assistant Director of several Neighborhood Service Centers, which was an outgrowth of the Model Cities Program; and
WHEREAS, under the direction of Erwin France, Sue became an exceptional manager and enjoyed working in t...
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