Marker to note fight to integrate Waukegan school
Students at Whittier Elementary School in Waukegan will eventually be able to learn about the history and national news that took place there in the 1960s by walking out the front door and reading a plaque.
A group of Whittier parents and activists from the Waukegan chapter of the NAACP believed in 1965 the attendance boundaries were drawn making the school predominantly black, while the four surrounding schools were nearly all white.
Those parents sued the predecessor to Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 for discrimination on behalf of their children under a 1963 Illinois law. The Illinois Supreme Court agreed with them, and in 1968 told the district to redraw its boundaries.
The school district and the Waukegan Historical Society plan to partner in placing a plaque in front of Whittier in the near future memorializing what they believe was progress in racial relations in the city at the time.
Josh Bill, a Waukegan High School teacher and president of the Board of Directors of the historical society, said it is important to tell the story frommore than 50 years ago and how it relates to the present.
“This showshowa community came together to fix an injustice, especially as we continue to struggle with issues of racial injustice today,” Bill said. “This really stood out as something to be memorialized.”
After the Waukegan Park District, which operates the Waukegan History Museum, set aside $2,500 for the project, Bill and Ty Rohrer, who oversees the museum among his park district duties, asked the school district’s Board of Education to workonthe plaque aswell.
Bill and Rohrer presented the idea to the school board on Nov 10. Though no action was taken at the time, the only point of contention was possibly making the sign larger to tell the story in greater detail. The total cost is $4,000, with 100 words on the sign.
Board of Education President Brandon Ewing said he anticipates the board will approve the partnership when it meets Tuesday and addmoney to the existing $2,500 from the park district. No member is opposed. Somewant room for more words. He wants the events memorialized.
“It’s a very unique story about how parents embraced Whittier when we were supposed to have integrated schools already,” Ewing said. “Waukegan has always been diverse. Telling this story is important.”
A member of the board of the Illinois State Historical Society and the park district’s program director for museums and cultural arts, Rohrer said he got the idea of the Whittier sign when attending a state board meeting.
Rohrer said itwas mentioned then there was an increased interest it placingmore historicalmarker signs around the state. Though the state has final say over the sign to assure there is no inappropriate language, he sees no reason it will not happen.
“Theywant to tell more of the state’s diversity, and put a focus on African American stories,” Rohrer said. “I immediately thought about the story of Whittier.”
Two similar signs already exist in Waukegan. Rohrer said one is located in Bowen Park commemorating the summer camp established there in 1912 by Jane Addams’ and Hull House. The other is on the RobertMcClory Bike Path near Abbott Middle School memorializing the North Shore railroad.
Located on Lewis Avenue just north of Grand Avenue, Bill said Whittier was situated in an “essentially” segregated neighborhood known as Frog Island. While the areawas black, based on the size of the area around the school it should not have been nearly all black, but itwas.
In 1963, Bill said Illinois passed the Armstrong Act which banned the practice of knowingly drawing school boundaries to create racial segregation. At the time, Whittier was 85% black, while the four surrounding schools — Clearview, Glen Flora, Glenwood and Hyde Park elementary schools — were nearly allwhite.
While Glen Flora was 2% black, the other three were 100% white, according to the Illinois Supreme Court decision on the case, Tometz v. Board of Education. The decision indicated the parents of seven Whittier children sued the school district to desegregate the school.
“The parents claimed it was de facto segregation, which the Armstrong Act prohibited,” Bill said. “This was not good (for the students) psychologically or educationally. It showed how racial unrest came toWaukegan, too.”
The case was a threeyear legal battle. The parents sued the district in 1965 and the Illinois Supreme Court made its decision in 1968. In the interim, the superintendent at the time devised four plans to redraw the boundaries, but the board refused to implement any of them, according to the court’s decision
After the board refused to make any changes, the Circuit Court of Lake Countyimposedoneof the superintendent’s plans, according to the decision. The board appealed the decision, which the Supreme Court upheld in a 4-3 vote.