Public Programs Calendar
These programs are held at our Chicago, Illinois facility unless otherwise indicated.
Help Celebrate Black History Month
Title: Burnside School Sit-in: First Demonstration to Desegregate Chicago Public Schools
Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Time: 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Place: The National Archives at Chicago
Fee: Free!
Join nationally known Family Historian and Genealogist, Tony Burroughs, FUGA*
Fifty years ago, on January 2, 1962, seventeen mothers, and their children, staged a sit-in at Burnside School on the south side of Chicago. They protested segregated and over-crowded schools to the school board.
- Non-violent sit-in demonstrations had been used successfully in the South in 1960 in Greensboro and Nashville to integrate lunch counters. Parents thought they could use the sit-in to integrate segregated schools in Chicago.
- These mothers inspired ministers and later Civil Rights workers as well as some of the Freedom Riders to join their forces.
- It also led to the 1963 city-wide boycott of the Chicago Public Schools.
Hear about these unsung heroes and see copies of some of the records that survived.
Limited Seating: To reserve a space for this free program, please pre-register by providing your name and e-mail address:
- E-mail chicago.archives@nara.gov
- Telephone the National Archives at Chicago at (773) 948-9010
* Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association
PDF files require the free Adobe Reader.
More information on Adobe Acrobat PDF files is available on our Accessibility page.