SPRINGFIELD, IL – Befitting the final day of Black History Month, State Senator Emil Jones, III (D-Chicago) passed a resolution out of the Senate which designates the bridge located at 99th and 100th Streets and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Rosemoor and Roseland Heights as the "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge."

King, who rose to national prominence in the late 1950’s by organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in Alabama during a time when Jim Crow segregation laws flourished in the southern states, was recently memorialized with a statue on the National Mall in Washington D.C. 

“The community has spoken,” said Senator Jones. “Dr. King dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of the most disenfranchised and underserved Americans, it’s only right that we honor his name by placing it on the bridge connecting these two neighborhoods.”

Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.

“There’s no way we can pay Dr. King back for his contribution to society, but we can pay our respect by memorializing his name,” Jones added.

The resolution will also have to be adopted by the Illinois House of Representatives before it can officially take effect.