(FEPC) and served as its acting chairman. Through his work with the FEPC, Dickerson sought to increase the conditions and employment rate for black Americans. In 1963, Dickerson participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and stood on stage near Martin Luther King Jr. during the “I Have a Dream” speech. That same year, Dickerson led the Chicago Exposition of the Centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. Dickerson was one of the first recipients of the Thurgood Marshall Award, given by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, for supporting civil rights laws. In 1971, Dickerson was named “Black Businessman of the Year.” Due to his service to the City of Chicago, Mayor Harold Washington declared May 1, 1983 to be “Earl B. Dickerson” day. Personal life Dickerson married Inez Moss in 1912. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1927. On June 15, 1930, Dickerson married Kathryn Kennedy Wilson. Kathryn had one son, Rodger Wilson, Jr., from a previous marriage. Together, Dickerson and Kennedy had one daughter, Diane, who was born in 1934. He died in his Chicago home on September 1, 1986, and was buried next to his wife Kathryn in Burr Oak, the cemetery he helped found. References Further reading Blakely, Robert J. (with Marcus Shepard). Earl B. Dickerson: A Voice for Freedom and Equality. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2006. 1891 births 1986 deaths African-American lawyers American civil rights activists United States Army personnel of World War I Chicago City Council members Illinois Democrats Lawyers from Chicago Military personnel from Illinois Organization founders People from Canton, Mississippi United States Army soldiers University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers Burials at Burr Oak Cemetery 20th-century African-American politicians African-American men in politics