No Place to Run, No Place to Hide: Comparative Status and Future Prospects of Black Boys

Unit 4, Men, Youth, Education--K-12

Study based on research in Champaign Unit 4 School District

Images of Blacks in the White and Black Press in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

African-American Media, Media Representations, Racism, 1980s, 1970s

Paper prepared for Urban Planning 199M under Professor R. Mattson

Rhonda Payne

20 December 1988

Simple Words, Simple Deeds

Education, Racism

Based on interviews in Champaign-Urbana's African-American Community.

From First Paragraph:

Maybe the easiest way to get from the campus of the
University of Illinois to Urbana High School is just to walk
south on Lincoln Avenue to Washington Street and then east
past handsome homes to Race Street, where the large
educational plant stands, its entrance facing Carle Park and
the arch on its western boundary, its athletic fields in the
rear, and its carefully trimmed lawns and evergreens on all
sides. The high school has an older substantial section and a
new wing marked 1955 on a white foundation stone. Inside
the corridors are wide and long, exceptionally long, lined
with hundreds and hundreds of numbered lockers, 1407,
1408, 1409, 1410.

Thomas J. Cottle

Urban Education

1970

RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA–CHAMPAIGN: VOICES OF STUDENTS OF COLOR LIVING IN UNIVERSITY HOUSING

Racism, University of Illinois, University Housing

From Introduction:

The University of Illinois is committed to excellence in research, teaching, and public engagement. The university’s mission is to transform lives and to serve society by educating, creating knowledge, and putting knowledge to work within a framework of excellence. The University of Illinois serves the state, the nation, and the global market through innovation in research. In addition, the University of Illinois prepares students to live in a global society and uses the transfer and application of knowledge to meet societal needs.
This campus has been and is committed to undergraduate and graduate education. Over 30,000 undergraduate students are enrolled in nine (9) divisions that cumulatively offer over 4,000 courses in over 150 fields of study. The university has an enrollment of over 11,000 graduate students from around the world and ranks among the top five (5) universities in the nation in doctoral degrees awarded. In its 2008 rankings, U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges rated Illinois as the number 8 public university and the number 38 national university.
However, although the institution is one of the most prestigious in the nation, not everything is so glamorous. Joy A. Williamson (2003) in Black Power on Campus: The University of Illinois 1965–75 describes the institutional hostility and apathy toward individuals of color, particularly Blacks. She describes the social support mechanisms that lead to student activism and student and group solidarity and advancement. This work documents the trials and tribulations of being a student of color at Illinois during a rigid time of racial change.
At the dawn of the 21st century, higher education was faced with taking a stance on issues of multiculturalism and diversity. The affirmative action cases of Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger placed the University of Michigan at the forefront of implementing policies to diversify college campuses. Even though the decision limited the formularized use of race in college admission decisions, the University of Michigan’s core argument—which allowed for colleges and universities to implement affirmative action policies in which race could be used as a factor in admissions decisions—prevailed. This allowed for the creation of a diverse environment that leads to positive educational outcomes. Illinois, like other institutions of higher education, was affected by this decision and was tasked with documenting the positive educational outcomes diversity provides.
In response to this charge, the University of Illinois, through the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society (CDMS), sponsored a conference in 2006 titled “Documenting the Differences Racial and Ethnic Diversity Makes.” The major objectives of this conference included determining and understanding how racial and ethnic diversity differs depending on the institutional context; discussing how to foster an environment where colleagues can address racial and ethnic diversity issues; initiating a dialogue around issues of racial and ethnic diversity on the Urbana–Champaign campus; providing an interactive atmosphere whereby participants are able to recognize and respect the pluralistic nature of race and ethnicity; and providing a context in which participants are able to discuss student life, curriculum, teaching, and research, and to brainstorm on how to create a campus climate that promotes inclusion and social justice. In his closing remarks at the conference, Chancellor Richard Herman stated:

Research presented at today’s conference adds to the growing body of evidence that confirms what many of us have always known to be true: Diversity inside and outside of the classroom enhances the campus learning environment. . . Diversity matters in the development of faculty members’ pedagogical approaches, and styles. Diversity matters because it shapes how we interact with one another, informs the research that we do, and permeates the traditions, policies, and practices we uphold. Finally, diversity matters because it helps to cultivate a welcoming campus climate and culture for all segments of our community.
The benefits of diversity were clear to the chancellor. As a result, he announced that the Documenting the Differences Diversity Makes conference would become a biannual event for the Illinois campus community and would serve as a vehicle for sharing the campus’ progress with the campus (because Illinois is decentralized) and local communities, state, and national scholars. The campus remained charged with discussions surrounding race and the role it plays on campus. In the spring of 2008, the Illinois community participated in another conference focusing on “Race, Diversity, and Campus Climate.” After many interdisciplinary sessions and discussions, it was determined at the conclusion of the conference that there is yet more work to be done.
CDMS is a unique interdisciplinary research and service institute organized around a commitment to the practice of democracy, equality, and social justice within the changing multiracial society of the United States. It includes a network of UIUC–affiliated scholars with an expertise in and sensitivity to the persistent and significant role of race in many aspects of life in the Unites States. It is important to explore the experiences of students of color in order to work to eliminate the negative academic outcomes and health effects of subtle and contemporary forms of racism on college campuses. One of the implications of this research project is to promote and foster an inclusive campus community that respects differences and offers all members an equal opportunity to engage in a diverse democracy. During the 2007–2008 academic year, the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society (CDMS) initiated the foundation of the Racial Microaggressions Working Group. In the 2008–2009 academic year, CDMS supported research to explore the experiences of students of color as part of its work to eliminate the negative academic outcomes and health effects of subtle and contemporary forms of racism on college campuses.

Stacy Harwood, Margaret Browne Huntt, & Ruby Mendenhall

Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society: Diversity, Inclusiveness, Research, & Equity Series

2010

Memories of the African-American Experience in Champaign-Urbana

Oral History, Baseball, Chanute, Centennial High School, Segregation, Racism

Bernice Harrington, Ruth Latham and Ernie Westfield share their memories of growing up in Champaign County at Garden Hills Elementary on January 21, 2011.

Video part 1

Video part 2

Noah Lenstra

21 January 2011

LETTER CONCERNING RACE RELATIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Racism, University of Illinois, Great Depression

The University of Illinois enrolled approximately 120 black students in the fall of 1937. A group of around forty students, half white and half black, were attempting to end discrimination at area Champaign-Urbana restaurants. Mixed groups of these activists showed up at eating establishments and requested seating. On occasion restaurateurs adulterated the food served in order to discourage this behavior. In one instance a group of these students took a sample of contaminated food to the university health officer for examination. He found that white pepper had been added to a cheese sandwich and made a complaint to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

That agency turned the matter over to the Illinois Department of Agriculture which in turn delegated it to its division of foods and dairies. Inspector James Burke was sent to Champaign-Urbana to investigate. After associating himself with several of the activists he too was served a cheese sandwich saturated with white pepper at an area restaurant. Subsequently Burke identified himself as a food inspector and confronted the manager. The manager agreed immediately to cease adulterating food. In Burke's report to his superiors he stated that the word had gotten around regarding Department of Agriculture vigilance in relation to food service and that he anticipated no future incidents in Champaign-Urbana.

Points to Consider

What was Marvin Eisner planning to have James Burke do?

Locate Champaign and Urbana on a map.

Which university is located at Champaign-Urbana?

Describe the discrimination taking place there in 1937.

University of Illinois Archives

Hard Times in Illinois Series: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/hard_times/doc44.html

1937

Black Male Perspectives of Counseling on a Predominantly White University Campus

Black Experience on Campus, Discimination, Counseling

Wendell W. Bonner

Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3 pp. 395-408

January 1997

Champaign County Courtwatching Project Highlights Annual Reports

Policing, Discriminating, Juries

Report on discrimination in jury selection in Champaign County juries.

League of Women Voters of Champaign County/College of Law, University of Illinois

2008-2009 and other years

Some Implications of Busing in Urbana, Illinois: An Inquiry into an aspect of Integration

Discrimination, Segregation, Integration, Transportation, Primary/Seconday School Education and Discrimination

This source is a thesis on the ongoing process of the elimination of segregation and the process of integration in Champaign-Urbana, specifically in the educational realm. It features interviews with local residents and members of the school board.

Harlan Neil Henson

1968

The Effect of School Busing on Black Student Attitude Toward School

Primary/Seconday School Education and Discrimination, Segregation, Integration, and Transportation

This source is a thesis written at the University of Illinois on the impact that busing of black students on their attitudes towards school. It includes results from surveys and a detailed section on additional or complementary resources.

William Stanley Nowak

1970