The South Cafeteria at Evanston Township High School was transformed Saturday into a bustling hub for community members seeking to preserve their photographs, mementos and memories. Shorefront Legacy Center and Northwestern University co-hosted Mapping Black Evanston: A History Harvest. The free event was held in collaboration with Media Burn Archive, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing independent video, focusing on politics, culture and everyday life.
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Shorefront Black Metropolis Graduate Assistant Jojo Galvan, center, archivist for the Black Experience at Northwestern University, and Blaire Batista of Northwestern Center for Civic Engagement consider the best way to safely preserve framed family photos. Credit: Heidi Randhava -
Charla Wilson, archivist for the Black Experience at Northwestern, uses an imaging to digitize an image of framed photos. Credit: Heidi Randhava -
Northwestern University students Nola Williams, at left, and Blaire Batista welcome participants. Credit: Heidi Randhava
Shorefront archivists and other preservation experts brought high-quality scanners to digitize photo and print materials. The digital files were saved to a flash drive for the participant to take home. A Media Burn archivist was on hand to accept VHS and DVD videos, which will be digitized off site. Information about how to preserve other formats was also provided. To advance Shorefront’s efforts to preserve and publicize the history of Black people in Evanston, participants had the option to contribute copies of their preserved materials to Shorefront’s collections.
There was a dedicated area for collecting oral histories and a station where Shorefront staff offered resources and tips for preserving family and community histories.
The cafeteria was filled with the sound of conversations, laughter and stories about treasured photos and documents. Marsha Avery Belcher and her husband James attended the event together. Both were born and raised in Evanston. Avery Belcher displayed several treasured items, including a copy of the autobiography Booker T. Washington: The Story of My Life and Work, published in 1901 — a book she said has been in her family for more than 100 years. “My grandparents passed this book on to my mother, who was from Pueblo, Colorado, and she gave it to me,” said Avery Belcher, who is the youngest of her parents’ three children. Her father, however, was born in Evanston.
A number of attendees said they are third, fourth or fifth-generation Evanstonians.
Lifelong Evanston resident Melody-Marion Bickhem became emotional when Priscilla Giles shared her 1950 Foster School fourth-grade class composite photo, which included a photo of Bickhem’s late mother. “We were in the same class that year,” Giles told Bickhem, recalling that the two women remained friends into adulthood.
Giles also brought a handwritten journal from 1921, in excellent condition. “This was written by my grandmother’s sister – my great-aunt,” said Giles, who is a member of the African American History and Genealogy Study Group of Evanston and the Afro-American Genealogical & Historical Society of Chicago.
Many attendees, including Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart and Beloit, Wisconsin, Police Chief Schonella Stewart, browsed a sampling of Shorefront’s historical photographs and records. The twin sisters are fifth-generation Evanstonians on their father’s side of the family.
Schenita Stewart serves on the Shorefront board. Schonella, a dedicated Shorefront volunteer, pointed to a photo from the Shorefront archives. “This is one of our relatives, Carrie Watt,” she said, adding, “She became a Pringle when she got married.” In 1913, Charles George Pringle and Carrie Watt Pringle left what is now Abbeville, South Carolina and moved to Evanston with their four children. Charles Pringle built their family home in 1916 at 1827 Grey Ave. The couple had seven children when Charles died at age 39, leaving Carrie a widow at age 37. Despite hard times, the family persevered — well organized family and committed to education, especially reading, —according to A Family Legacy: Esther Pringle Weldon Reflects on her Family History, by Dino Robinson, published in the Shorefront Journal in 2015.
Attendee Gilo Logan, an equity and inclusion educator and author, is also a fifth-generation Evanstonian. The maternal branch of his family came to Evanston in the late 1890s from Windsor, Canada, and the Logan family came from Greenwood, South Carolina, in 1903. Logan was at the Media Burn station, working with Media Burn representative Sara Chapman to digitize some of his family videos, which include recordings of his father, the late Bill Logan, a community leader who became Evanston’s first Black police chief in 1984.
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Members of the Mapping Black Evanston team gather as the event concludes. Credit: Heidi Randhava -
Mapping Black Evanston supporters and board members enjoy time together. Credit: Heiid Randhava -
From left, Ruth Curry, Colette Allen, Laurice Bell, Nicole Parker, Schenita Stewart, Kate Masur, Brenda Grier and Caleb Snead at Mapping Black Evanston. Credit: Heidi Randhava
Long-time Evanston residents and newcomers alike mingled and connected while sharing items from their personal lives. They all answered the call to preserve stories and materials that might otherwise fade, become damaged or be lost — choosing to decide what to save and make it accessible for the future.
