February 19, 2020
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Chicago’s South Side Was Big Part of the Civil Rights Era
The civil rights era may have begun in the south, but made its way through Chicago’s South Side by way of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered one of his first Chicago speeches at the University of Chicago (U of C). On April 13, 1956, a 27-year-old King spoke at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., after being invited by Chicago historian Timuel Black, who earned a master’s degree in social science two years earlier at the University of Chicago.