Educating, advocating, and
organizing to uphold just
and integrated communities
north of Chicago, Illinois
Educating, advocating, and
organizing to uphold just
and integrated communities
north of Chicago, Illinois
On the 42nd anniversary of the North Shore Summer Project's open housing rally on the Winnetka Village Green featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Washburne School eighth graders, their teacher Cecilia Gigiolio, the Village of Winnetka, the Interfaith Housing Center, organizers of the NSSP, and other supportive residents staged a gathering to dedicate a commemorative plaque.
King’s appearance on July 25, 1965 was the first ever civil rights rally in an all-white suburb. Between 8,000 and 10,000 people gathered on the Winnetka Village Green in support of the North Shore Summer Project, determined to end the widespread real estate industry practice of steering blacks, Jews and other minorities away from communities and neighborhoods designated for white Christians only.
Community leaders on hand to help the students dedicate "King's Corner," as NSSP and Interfaith founder Jean Cleland called it in her speech, were Ms. Cleland, Mary Powers (who obtained the rally permit as chair of the now-defunct Winnetka Human Relations Committee), David James (present at the 1965 rally and who became, in 1967, the first African-American, to purchase a home in Winnetka), Village President Edmund Woodbury, Washburne Principal Daniel Schwartz, President of the Illinois Association of Realtors Robert Zoretich, and architect of the monument Mark Marcus. Also on the Green in support were Pat Cantor, New Trier Township Supervisor, representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, and State Rep. Julie Hamos.
Over 200 people spanning all generations were present, and recommitted themselves to the importance of, in the words spoken 42 years before by Dr. King, "learning to live together as brothers or perishing together as fools."
David James at "King's Corner"
Dr. King Plaque, Winnetka Village Green
Washburne Students
Interfaith Housing Center Board directors
Interfaith Board and Staff members
Cecilia Gigiolio, Teacher and MC
Ryan Lucas, student organizer
On the Green with Pat Cantor, New Trier Township Supervisor, at right
Brandon Waldon, student organizer
Jean Cleland dedicates 'King's Corner'
Supportive crowd
Mel Cornelo
Mary Powers
Nathan Seeley
David James: 'Two score and two years ago...'
Julie Rubin, student organizer
Washburne Principal Daniel Schwartz
Lauren Cannon, student organizer
Winnetka Village President Edmund Woodbury
Student organizer
Robert Zoretich, President, Illinois Association of Realtors
Mark Marcus, monument architect
Cecilia Gigiolio and her 8th grade social studies class
Inspired young people
Thanking their teacher
Representatives for U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowksy, State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, State Rep. Julie Hamos, and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, with Dan Seals of Wilmette
North Shore Summer Project (1961-1965) organizers
Photo Report Author: Gail Schechter
