Oak Park Highlights Black History with Several Events
Years after the 1951 firebombing of Dr. Percy L. Julian’s Oak Park home, Oak Park residents--in recognition of Black History Month--will discuss “Why Oak Park Needs a Regional Housing Center in 2014,” part of a series of free discussion forums and film presentations at the Oak Park Library that will continue into March.
The Chicago Citizen Newspaper spoke with Rob Breymaier, executive director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, who will lead one of the scheduled panel discussions.
“Oak Park has a long history of working diversity,” said Breymaier. “But manifestation of those values does not occur without effort. This is not a focus on affordable housing but on fair housing and racial integration.”
The panel discussions are part of a collaboration of events between the Oak Park Public Library, the Oak Park Regional Housing Center and the Historical Society of Oak Park & River Forest, themed Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle that get underway Feb. 9, and was planned as a way to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, as well as to honor the Oak Park citizens who passed the Fair Housing Ordinance, created the Oak Park Housing Center, banned real estate “For Sale” signs, and began to integrate the Village and schools some 40 years ago.
When asked why it matters whether Oak Park has fair housing or not, Breymaier said, “We care because we made the right decision at the time when Dr. Percy Julian moved to Oak Park and his house was fire bombed. Oak Park rallied and came to his defense in the 1950s and today we’re concerned because of our diverse model and the social and economic value of that because so many people want to move to here.”
Breymaier clarified the difference between fair housing and affordable housing.
“Affordable housing and fair housing is not always the same thing,” Breymaier said. “The inequality we see in Chicago correlates with patterns of segregation. Wealthy African Americans have a harder time getting a loan than working class whites. We know progress has been made but we’re still not there yet. African Americans make up about 22 percent of Oak Park’s population.”
In 1966, Chicago’s “slum” and racial segregation conditions brought Dr. King to the area as part of the Chicago Freedom Movement campaign that marked the expansion of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) civil rights activities from the South to the northern cities. According to historical accounts, King remarked he was here to “help eradicate a vicious system which seeks to further colonize thousands of Negroes within a slum environment.’’
Results from the 2010 census reveal how little, residential, economic, and social advancement for Black Americans has changed since the Fair Housing Act--Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968—that prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18), and disability as amended.
Census data show that people living in the nation’s Midwestern regions are more likely than any other regional group to live in racially divided cities. Chicago is third on the list of 10 most segregated cities for Black Americans; Milwaukee is first on that list.
The Oak Park Library events series is an initiative of the National Endowment (NEH) for the Humanities that use documentary films to encourage community discussion of America’s civil rights history.
Documentary films to be shown at the Oak Park Library include: The Abolitionists, Slavery by Another Name, Freedom Riders, and The Loving Story. Freedom Riders received an Emmy in 2012, and The Loving Story and The Abolitionists were nominated for Emmys in 2013.
Panel Discussions:
· Saturday, Feb. 15, Bobbie Raymond, founder of the Oak Park Housing Center in 1972 will head the first discussion titled “An Integrated Oak Park: How Did It Happen?”
· Tuesday, Feb. 18, George and Linda Bailey will lead a group of mixed-race couples who will talk about the challenges of loving and marrying someone of another race several decades ago, then raising bi-racial children in Oak Park.
· Saturday March 22, Rob Breymaier, Executive Director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, will head a discussion centered on “Why Oak Park Needs a Regional Housing Center in 2014.”
· Saturday March 29, John Giles, Galen Gockel and Marion Hogenboom will remember the role of the elementary schools in contributing to an integrated Oak Park.
For information on other Black History Month events please contact Debby Preiser, (708) 697-6915 or dpreiser@oppl.org. For a full list of events please visit the library at www.oppl.org.
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