Home | Back to United States Map Showing Oak Park in IL...

Basic Information Type of Place Suburb Metro Area? W. Chicago Politics c. 1860? Unions, Organized Labor? Sundown Town Status Confirmed Sundown Town? Probable Year of Greatest Interest Was there an ordinance? Yes, Strong Oral Tradition Sign? Yes, Strong Oral Tradition Still Sundown? Surely Not Census Information Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Tell Dr. Loewen More About This Town 2 + 5: (to stop spam) Email: Method of Exclusion Main Ethnic Group(s). Group(s) Excluded Comments Oak Park began as an all-white suburb of Chicago, with its third Black family moving in the mid-1960s. A minister and long-time resident of Villa Park recalled, "In those days blacks didn't dare cross Austin Avenue to live in Oak Park." According to en.wikipedia.org/Percy_Julian: Percy Julian was a well-respected chemist owning more than 130 chemical patents, eventually inventing "The Birth Control Pill." Certainly he synthesized cortisone, a key medical breakthrough. "Around 1950 Julian moved his family from Chicago to the suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, where the Julians were the first colored family. Although some residents welcomed them into the community, there was also widespread antipathy towards them. Their home was fire-bombed on Thanksgiving Day, 1950, before they moved in. After the moved to Oak Park, the house was attacked with dynamite on June 12, 1951. The attacks galvanized the community and a community group was formed to support the Julians. According to a resident of Illinois, "There is an earlier history of Blacks before and shortly after 1900 that through various actions forced movement to other suburbs (Maywood). The community was where the current downtown Oak Park business district is now. With the long gap, the perception of the Julian family being the first Black family took root (they were not the first family but the first in a new wave)."

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