'In focus: the chicago freedom movement and at the elmhurst art museum through june 20
Bernard Kleina was ahead of his time in wanting to shoot with color film, which resulted in some of the most realistic photos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1965-67 Chicago Freedom Movement. The movement, led by Dr. King, James Bevel and Al Raby, fought against systemic racism and segregation in Chicagoland and inspired the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Now on display at the Elmhurst Art Museum, “In Focus: The Chicago Freedom Movement and the Fight for Fair Housing,” features 40 historic photos by 85-year-old Kleina and seeks to provide an understanding and context for this national issue that had roots in Chicago. Kleina photographed Dr. King and other civil rights leadership and organized public marches. After the civil rights movement, as director of HOPE Fair Housing Center, he helped to eliminate housing discrimination in northern Illinois for over 40 years. He now lives in Wheaton. The exhibit provides in-
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sight into the Chicago Freedom Movement and the Fair Housing Act through maps, statistics and first-person accounts provided by the National Public Housing Museum, HOPE Fair Housing Center, Elmhurst History Museum and The HistoryMakers. Adding contemporary context to “In Focus” are statement pieces that remind viewers there is still a long way to go before we reach the goals of Dr. King and the civil rights movement. Included are recent photographs of summer 2020 protests taken by 21-year-old Chicago photographer Vashon Jordan Jr. plus insights from race, class and communities journalist Natalie Moore, award-winning author of “The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation.” Programming includes a May 20 event, “Becoming the ’Burbs” Part 1, 9-10 a.m., which will feature a prerecorded conversation with historians and scholars on the ways Chicago’s suburbs were created, from the Great Migration to discriminatory practices.
