From Civil Rights To Black Power: The Hidden History Of Black Community College Activism In Chicago

Abstract

During the rise of the Black Power movement, the Afro-American History Club fought for control of Chicago’s Woodrow Wilson Junior College, by challenging the viability of the college’s mostly Eurocentric curriculum for Black students. In doing so, they found themselves in public battles with Chicago’s mayor, Richard J. Daley. As America’s most powerful mayor, Daley controlled the City Colleges of Chicago campuses with a system of political nepotism that fixed Black students at the lowest rung of the educational strata. This chapter critically examines the fight between the Afro-American History Club and “Pharoah” Daley in 1967-1968. Also, it investigates the impact of Daley politics on student activism and protest at Woodrow Wilson Junior College during the growth and development of the Black Power movement.