On this day, 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joined forces with the Chicago Freedom Movement to bring attention to unfair housing conditions in Chicago. They marched in the all-white neighborhood of Marquette Park, where they met by protesters slinging rocks and bottles.
Some Civil Rights activists say it was an important step in the movement; Dr. King met with Mayor Daley later in the summer to agree on terms for improved conditions. To commemorate the anniversary, the Inner-City Muslim Action Network and others launched the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project, which hosts festivities this weekend.
We talk with Dorothy Tillman, who was at the march, Rami Nashashibi from IMAN about the project, and WBEZ’s Natalie Moore details the changes Marquette Park has experienced over the last five decades.