The Emerson Street Branch YMCA served as a segregated facility for fifty-five years in Evanston, Illinois, providing activities and services during the era of Jim Crow. Known locally as the Emerson Y, this branch not only served the local Black community but fast became the place to be. It served as a community meeting space for numerous organizations and congregations and provided needed social services. The Emerson Y housed Black male students attending Northwestern University and hosted proms for Black high school graduates under imposed segregated practices. It had a robust athletics program. The Emerson Y was full of energy, guided youth, and inspired many who rose to success. Its closing in 1969 and the eventual destruction of the building left a collective open wound within the community, while its history began to fade with each passing decade.

Gatherings covers the establishment of the Emerson Street Branch Y, its heyday, and its eventual closing, and introduces a new chapter detailing a path of reconciliation. With commentary from YMCA past and present staff as well as community members, this revised, second edition shares the Emerson Y’s establishment, impactful history, the path to its closing and demolition, and the current resolve of the Evanston Y towards healing.