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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF JES?S "CHUY" NEGRETE
WHEREAS, Almighty God in His infinite wisdom has called Jes?s "Chuy" Negrete from our midst on May 27, 2021 and
WHEREAS, Mr. Negrete was born in San Luis Potos?, M?xico, on July 5, 1948 to Melesia and Bernardo Negrete; and
WHEREAS, at the age of one, Mr. Negrete and his family migrated to the United States and spent his early years in Texas while his parents worked in the field and later his family settled in South Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Negrete graduated from Chicago Vocational High School and received a bachelor's degree in education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and a master's in education from Chicago State University (CSU); and
WHEREAS, Mr. Negrete resided in the Rogers Park community and was a lifelong educator through his Mexican folklore ballads also known as corridos; through his tenure as a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teacher; and as an adjunct faculty at numerous universities across the country; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Negrete rose to nationwide prominence in the 1970s during the Chicano Movement through his music which provided oral histories in English and Spanish to retell Mexican and Mexican American history from pre-Columbian times to the present; and
WHEREAS, he was closely aligned with the farmworker movement, performing for C?sar Chavez's United Farm Workers and Baldemar Vel?squez's Farm Labor Organizing Committee; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Negrete also provided performances, lectures and workshops to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, in venues ranging from public schools and libraries to union rallies and civic festivals, from prisons to senior centers; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Negrete helped found Teatro del Barrio in the 1970s and often performed in the street theater troupe with his sisters; and
WHEREAS, for more than a decade, he hosted "Radio Rebelde," a weekly bilingual talk-and-music program addressing issues faced by immigrant workers, and
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