Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Suburb
- Metro Area
- W. Chicago
- Politics c. 1860?
- Unions, Organized Labor?
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Probable
- Was there an ordinance?
- Yes, Strong Oral Tradition
- Sign?
- Yes, Strong Oral Tradition
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Surely Not
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
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| 2020 |
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).”