Title
Honoring the Life of C. Delores Tucker.
Body
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
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