Washington, DC -(Effingham Radio)- U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) held a virtual meeting today with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to discuss the Senator’s priorities for Illinois public lands, including preserving the Springfield Race Riot site, the church that hosted the funeral of Emmett Till and the Prairie du Rocher French Colonel historic district. During their conversation, they also discussed the importance of making public lands more inclusive and accessible for the disability community.
“Secretary Haaland and I had a productive discussion today about my work to preserve three historic sites in Illinois that would each help our National Park Service better reflect the diverse range of our American history,” Duckworth said. “I’ll continue working with Secretary Haaland to protect these important sites and increase accessibility throughout our public lands.”
In February of this year, Senator Duckworth re-introduced her legislation with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to establish the sites of the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield, Illinois, as a national monument. The riot was the catalyst for the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Duckworth introduced a bipartisan bill in March with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) that would designate the church that held Chicagoan Emmett Till’s pivotal funeral in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood as a national historic site. Duckworth also introduced a resolution with U.S. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) recognizing the successful campaign led by disability advocates to secure a statue of FDR in a wheelchair in the Prologue Room at the FDR Memorial and urging the National Park Service (NPS) to make the Memorial accessible to everyone.
Comments