Pencil This In: 'Lessons From The '63 Boycott' At The DuSable Museum

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 21, 2013 5:30PM

On Oct. 22, 1963, 250,000 Chicago children and parents boycotted school and marched to protest segregation and inequality that existed in Chicago schools under Superintendent Benjamin Willis, who placed mobile school units on playgrounds and parking lots as a “permanent solution” to overcrowding in black schools—conditions that persist in the public school system to this day. Kartemquin Films's upcoming documentary '63 Boycott looks at the impact of that boycott from the activist, students and parents who participated in it.

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis will join Rosie Simpson and Fannie Rushing, leaders of the 1963 boycott, for a discussion at the DuSable Museum Oct. 22 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., the 50th anniversary of the boycott. Titled "Lessons from the 1963 Boycott: The Struggle for Quality Education in Chicago Then and Now," the event will feature a screening of a clip from the uncompleted film. This event is free to attend. RSVP here.

The DuSable Museum of African American History is located at 740 E. 56th Place.

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