Evanstonian Colette Allen recalled going to Noyes Elementary School in the 1950s despite the school not being formally integrated.
She and her other Black classmates would eat and learn in different spaces than white students.
Attendees packed in Northwestern University’s Harris Hall hung onto every word she said.
Allen’s memories of 1950s and ’60s Evanston created the landscape for a discussion titled “There Are Places I Remember: A Community Geography of Evanston” at Shorefront Legacy Center’s Activating Local Black History Symposium on Saturday, April 26. Allen worked with ETHS social studies teacher Makoto Ogura on detailing memories about integration in Evanston.
Presentations used Shorefront’s archives and followed themes of place-based memories, documenting the Evanston Black experience and activism.
Doctoral student Mikala Stokes shared several locations for a self-guided driving tour of 1940s Black Evanston where she focused on sites that no longer exist such as Evanston’s Black hotel at 1923 Asbury Ave.
“I wanted to focus on small spaces central to African American history in Evanston that are unrelated to major events,” Stokes said. “If a place is special to one person, it’s special to a historian.”
Drew Meinecke, another Northwestern doctoral student, described the use of Foster Field as a spot for community building and where several semi-professional Black minor league baseball teams played throughout the 1950s.
Laurice Bell, executive director of Shorefront, said events like the symposium are not an “end goal” for Shorefront.
“What goes into the archive and can be accessed creates a community archive,” Bell said.
The archives help keep representation of Black history Evanston alive, because “we haven’t seen ourselves reflected,” she said.
