Political Quotes

“one of our most preeminent oral historians of our time turns 100 on December 7. Timuel Black was born near the end of World War I and has been the keeper of the soul of the south side of Chicago to this very day. World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but we know some of America's greatest wars were yet to come. Tim Black was on the frontlines of many of those fights. As a historian, as an activist, and a humanist, he fought and continues to fight for the dignity of people and a better future. Professor Black was born in 1918, in Birmingham, AL, the son of sharecroppers and grandson of slaves. At 8 months, his family moved to Chicago, joining the first wave of migration of African Americans from the Deep South to the North. His family settled in an area of Chicago then-called the Black Belt. It is now known as Bronzeville. Tim would go on to celebrate and shape the history of Chicago's Black Belt. To Tim, this is sacred ground. But first, he went to Burke Elementary School and DuSable High School. His classmates included Nat King Cole; future publisher and founder of Jet and Ebony Magazine, John H. Johnson, the first African American on Forbes' 400 most wealthy; and future Mayor Harold Washington. Don Cornelius and musician Sonny Cohn also were among the many famous students of DuSable High School. It was on his birthday in 1941 that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Army drafted Tim into a segregated army 2 years later.…”