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Honoring the Life of C. Delores Tucker.
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WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia is pleased and proud to honor the life of noted civil rights leader, renowned women’s advocate, and politician, C. Delores Tucker; and
WHEREAS, As a national civil rights leader, C. Delores Tucker was known for her participation in the memorable Selma-to-Montgomery March in 1965 with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was the founding president of the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Non-Violent Change, which annually hosts the renowned King commemorative luncheon and is the first and only affiliate in the United States to be commissioned by Mrs. Coretta Scott King; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Tucker was the first African American to serve as Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and was the first African American woman in the nation to serve in that capacity; and
WHEREAS, As Secretary of State, Mrs. Tucker instituted the first Commission on the Status of Women in Pennsylvania, advocated successfully for Governor Shapp’s appointment of more African American judges and more women and African Americans to boards and commissions than ever before in Pennsylvania, guided the effort to make Pennsylvania one of the first states to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, and led the initiative to allow voter registration by mail and to lower the voting age from 21 to 18; and
WHEREAS, C. Delores Tucker was a national figure and visionary who was the convening founder and national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc., the founder and president of the Bethune-DuBois Institute, Inc., and the founder and publisher of Vital Issues: The Journal of African American Speeches, in addition, Mrs. Tucker was a former chair of the Black Caucus of the Democratic National Committee and was a delegate to the historic White House Conference on Civil Rights; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Tucker was a dynamic and outstanding orator and a highly sought after public speaker for various conventions, programs, dinners, and other events and the first African American woman to serve as the vice chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, the first woman vice president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the NAACP, and the first African American to serve as president of the National Federal of Democratic Women; and
WHEREAS, C. Delores Tucker was a strong and principled advocate for societal reforms that promoted decency, fairness, and justice and held true to her convictions and positions regardless of the barrage of criticism that she may have endured; and
WHEREAS, The daughter of Reverend Whitfield Nottage and Mrs. Captilda Gardiner Nottage, C. Delores Tucker was born Cynthia Delores Nottage, the second youngest of eleven children who developed her commanding oratory skills through her father’s influence as pastor of the Ebenezer Community Tabernacle Church in North Philadelphia and, at the age of 16, held one of her first civil rights protests outside the old Bellevue Stratford Hotel for its refusal to accept African American guests; and
WHEREAS, C. Delores Tucker graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1946 and, shortly thereafter, married Mr. William L. Tucker, she then attended Temple University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Morris College and Villa Maria College as well as an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of District of Columbia; and
WHEREAS, C. Delores Tucker was selected by People Magazine as one of the World’s Most Intriguing People and has been recognized consistently by Ebony Magazine as one of the nation’s most influential African American leaders, additionally, she has received several awards for her leadership and civic commitment from numerous organizations and institutions such as the NAACP, Urban League of Philadelphia, Salvation Army, Lincoln University, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, Women for Good Government, Alliance of Black Women Attorneys, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, Opportunities Industrialization Center, B’nai B’rith, National Newspaper Publishers Association, Feminist Majority Foundation, Berean Institute, and the National Association for Sickle Cell Disease; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Tucker is survived by her husband, Mr. William L. Tucker, and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and a resident of the West Mount Airy Section of the City; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor the life of noted civil rights leader, renowned women’s advocate, and politician, C. Delores Tucker.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to her beloved husband, Mr. William L. Tucker, as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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