Join us on Friday, April 17 at Oakton College’s Skokie Campus for a special screening of Stolen School – a powerful documentary that deepens our understanding of Evanston’s history at a moment of renewal.
The 35-minute film explores the 1967 closure of Evanston’s all-Black Foster School, a decision made in the name of desegregation that sent Black children from the 5th Ward to schools across the city. Closing the neighborhood school removed a central community anchor, weakening cohesion, connections, and the vitality of Black-owned businesses and pathways to economic opportunity.
As a new Foster School is built, this film acknowledges decades of disinvestment and affirms the central role of schools as living institutions of learning, belonging, and community life.
Shorefront and Northwestern will host Mapping Black Evanston: A History Harvest on Saturday, April 25, from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, at Evanston Township High School. Community members interested in preserving their photographs, mementos, and memories are invited to participate in this free event. Our staff and other preservation experts will scan & digitize materials, collect oral histories, and offer tips and resources for preserving family and community histories. Participants will be invited to listen to and share stories of Black Evanston past and present, browse a sampling of Shorefront’s historical photographs and records, enjoy food, and leave with a keepsake photo and short oral history.
To advance Shorefront’s efforts to preserve and publicize the history of Black people in Evanston, participants will have the option to donate copies of their preserved materials to Shorefront’s collections. Thanks to a collaboration with Media Burn Archive, we can also support digitization of some home videos. For more information, visit the event’s page.
To guarantee your spot and expedite scanning, please make an appointment via our Calendly page.
