A new high school is slated to be built at 24th and State streets, with the recent blessing of the Chicago Board of Education. It was a tight 4-3 vote, an indication of how controversial the plan is considering that residents of Chinatown, the South Loop and surrounding communities have been asking for a new school for decades.
Despite being treated as “less than a human being,” the members of the segregated unit “fought gallantly,” says James T. Averhart, president of the National Montford Point Marine Association. “This is not just Black history. It is not just Marine Corps history. It is American history.”
“When Blackness was Golden!: Observation from the front line” is a memoir by Pemon Rami. It’s a coming of age story that gives readers a look into the civil rights movement in Chicago and an era when Black culture and excellence were on the rise.