'In Focus: The Chiocago Freedom Movement and the Fight for Fair Housing' at the Elmhurst Art Museum

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 insight

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. A link on the museum’s website will be available the day of the program. Part 2, 7-8 p.m., will feature a live discussion with leaders of Elmhurst, Lombard and Naperville on demographics and stories of segregation, sundowning and unfair housing practices in their towns. Questions will be taken. A Zoom link will be available on the museum’s site. Both programs are free to the public, with no registration required.

The exhibition also debuts a collaborative project between the Design Museum of Chicago, Elmhurst Art Museum’s Teen Council, and York Community High School’s Black Student Union. These groups worked together to produce a photography-based project in which the teens consider their own relationship to their residences in combination with a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King.

The exhibition concludes with "The Movement Is Not Over," an in-person and online action center, providing resources that

equip visitors with tools to inspire lasting change in their own communities. A complementary exhibition by Ayanah Moor and Alisha Wormsley, “There is Black Housing in the Future: Equitable Public Housing as Memorial” will be presented in the Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House on the museum’s campus.

“In Focus” and “There is Black Housing in the Future” will run through June 20 at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 S. Cottage Hill Ave. in Elmhurst (one block from the Metra station). The museum is open noon-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. Admission is $15 ($12 for seniors) and free for students and children under 18. More information on its COVID protocols is available at elmhurstartmuseum.org

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in front of City Hall, July 26, 1965. Photography by Bernard Kleina.

Housing Mural, Chicago, John Pitman Weber. Photography by Bernard Kleina.

Lift the Ban Coalition at Daley Plaza, August 18, 2020. Photo by Vashon Jordan Jr. Image courtesy of the artist. Members of the Lift the Ban Coalition pose for a photo during the "Stop the Eviction Avalanche - Occupation of Eviction Court" weeklong demonstration at Daley Plaza, in the Loop neighborhood, August 18, 2020.

Dan Lund, Elmhurst History Museum, visiting "In Focus." Photograph by Steven Koch.

Column 1: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in front of City Hall, July 26, 1965. Photography by Bernard Kleina. Column 2: Housing Mural, Chicago, John Pitman Weber. Photography by Bernard Kleina. Lift the Ban Coalition at Daley Plaza, August 18, 2020. Photo by Vashon Jordan Jr. Image courtesy of the artist. Members of the Lift the Ban Coalition pose for a photo during the "Stop the Eviction Avalanche - Occupation of Eviction Court" weeklong demonstration at Daley Plaza, in the Loop neighborhood, August 18, 2020. Column 3: Dan Lund, Elmhurst History Museum, visiting "In Focus." Photograph by Steven Koch. Installation view, "In Focus." Photograph by Steven Koch. Column 4: Kendall Dirks, Untitled Depth of Field Project, 2021, Mixed media. Elmhurst Art Museum Teen Art Council.

Installation view, "In Focus." Photograph by Steven Koch.

Kendall Dirks, Untitled Depth of Field Project, 2021, Mixed media. Elmhurst Art Museum Teen Art Council.

-Suzanne Hanney, from prepared materials