“When the door opens, be ready to walk in.”
That was one of many pieces of wisdom delivered to 33 incoming University of Chicago students by Timuel D. Black, AM’54, the famed civil rights activist and oral historian who led the Civic Knowledge Project’s Orientation Week tour of Bronzeville on Sept. 22. Citing President Barack Obama as an example of someone who prepared himself to seize the opportunities that came his way, Black, who will be 98 in December, talked to the students about the importance of their education, which, he stressed, could be made all the richer by engaging with such historic South Side communities as Bronzeville.
To illustrate Black’s point, the group visited the South Side Community Art Center, which has been in continuous operation since it opened in 1940. There, Black talked to the students about the great artists and educators who have come out of Bronzeville, including his longtime friend, the late Margaret Burroughs, founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History and a founding board member of the Art Center. Assisted by local historian Bernard Turner and Civic Knowledge Project Director Bart Schultz, Black told one enchanting story after another about Bronzeville’s rich history and promising future, as the group continued their two-hour tour of the neighborhood.
Asked what had been the best part of O-Week, one student quickly replied, “This!” Another commented, “I had no idea that this was not just another tour, that (Black) had actually lived this history.”
The O-Week tour was specifically designed for first-years and open to anyone who wanted to participate. The Civic Knowledge Project, an initiative of the University’s Office of Civic Engagement, has been doing the tour for about 10 years, nearly always with Black and a visit to Bronzeville.
“We do it because it fits our mission so well,” said Schultz. “We are committed to making sure members of the UChicago community connect with our humanities-based programming in mid-South Side neighborhoods and, if possible, meet Tim, who has been a great partner.”
University alumni, students, and others will get that chance early next year, when Black leads the Civic Knowledge Project’s Legacy of MLK tour, which covers Dr. Martin Luther King's work on Chicago's South Side.
"When the door opens, be ready to walk in." - Timuel D. Black, AM '54
Founded by former UChicago Professor Danielle Allen in 2003, the Civic Knowledge Project also puts on humanities-oriented educational programs for the community. These include Winning Words, an after-school philosophy program for local youth, and Prisons, Persons, and Possibilities, which teaches arts and humanities courses to inmates at Stateville Correction Center in Joliet. Prisons, Persons, and Possibilities is a partnership with UChicago’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture and the Prison and Neighborhood Arts Project.
More information about the Civic Knowledge Project’s programming, events and tours is available at civicknowledge.uchicago.edu.