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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION HONORING JERRY T. JONES FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED LIFE AND CAREER
WHEREAS, Jerry T. Jones (born JT Jones) was born on March 25, 1936 in Sledge, Mississippi by way of a midwife; and
WHEREAS, Sledge was predominantly white and more affluent than Falcon where his mother lived, and which was occupied almost entirely by Black people; however, businesses in Falcon were Black owned including a cotton gin, in fact his father in addition to being the man in charge of the local cotton gin operation also owned a restaurant called a "juke joint" and the differences between the two towns had a profound influence on Jerry's perception of life; and
WHEREAS, when JT was eight years old, his uncle gave him a battery powered radio and he was immediately fascinated by the ability to listen to music and other programs from places as far away as Helena, Arkansas; His interest was so great that at the age of eight, he declared that he was going to make radios when he grew up; and
WHEREAS, in the summer of 1949, JT and his parents migrated from Sledge to Chicago because JT, at the age of twelve, had endured an increasing amount of threats from the white community on his life; and
WHEREAS, when JT made it to Chicago, he enrolled at Wendell Phillips high School, located on Chicago's South Side at 39th Street and Prairie Avenue, which served as a bedrock education for JT and he graduated at 16 years old in 1952 as the youngest person in his class; and
WHEREAS, in the fall of 1952, JT enrolled at the University of Illinois at Navy Pier, which was only a 2-year college at that time, so after finishing there, JT enrolled in night school at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago campus to continue his education; and
WHEREAS, throughout his college years, JT landed several jobs that were very instrumental to his life; His first job was as a draftsman at Western Electric, which was a subsidiary of AT&T; After a year, JT was able to apply for a j...
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