Washington
Harold Washington College celebrates life and legacy of namesake
When Vaneika Martin was 4-years-old, she met Harold Washington. It was earlier than his historic election as town’s first Black mayor, and he was on the marketing campaign path.
He confirmed as much as her father’s grocery retailer — the primary Black-owned grocery retailer in Lithuanian Plaza — sporting an extended black trench coat.
“Washington pulled up, and I assumed he was an uncle,” stated Martin, now head of the Biology Division at Harold Washington School. “I felt like this man was a part of our household. He got here and picked me up and … spoke to our neighborhood.”
Martin was one in all greater than 50 individuals gathered at Harold Washington School on Wednesday morning to rejoice Washington’s legacy.
Washington, whose centennial birthday was Friday, was elected in 1983 and served till his loss of life 4 years later.
“Mayor Washington lived a life dedicated to social justice, inclusion and unity,” stated Daniel Lopez, the school’s president. “His work modified the lives of many Chicagoans throughout ethnicity, nationality, race, gender and sexual orientation.”
Wednesday’s gathering at 30 E. Lake St. featured a Q&A with Washington historians, together with Raymond Lambert, producer of the documentary “Punch 9 for Harold Washington.” Attendees shared reminiscences of Washington and a musical efficiency by two Harold Washington School college students.
Scholar members from Harold Washington School’s Jazz Pop Ensemble carried out on the faculty’s celebration honoring Washington’s a hundredth birthday and life achievements.
Cheyanne M. Daniels/Solar-Occasions
One man shared his reminiscence of Washington becoming a member of his household for Sunday dinners; one other shared the time he met Washington and being “mesmerized” by his presence; one even shared what it was like in Metropolis Corridor the day of Washington’s loss of life.
A lot of the celebration centered round historian and professor Asif Wilson’s lesson on Washington’s life and marketing campaign.
“I by no means met Harold Washington — however my mother will inform you a unique story,” Wilson stated. “She would say, ‘Boy, we was out on the street organizing for Harold Washington while you have been in my stomach, you met Harold Washington!’”
Wilson’s lecture included brief clips from “Punch 9 for Harold Washington,” a documentary on Washington’s marketing campaign and its legacy. Wilson’s dialogue inspired self-reflection and self-determination to create a greater future.
“I consider deeply within the values that Harold Washington embodied, within the ways in which he led, the ways in which he interacted with individuals, the methods by which he mirrored and engaged in a metamorphosis of the world we reside in as we speak,” stated Wilson. “Harold was a person that was very artistic and really express in constructing with individuals.”
Asif Wilson speaks concerning the life and legacy of Harold Washington throughout a commemoration and celebration of Harold Washington’s a hundredth birthday on the Harold Washington School.
Anthony Vazquez/Solar-Occasions
The faculty’s celebrations proceed later this week. On Friday, the school will host a Harold Washington Life and Legacy bus tour with Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, a historian who has gained social media fame for his TikTok classes about Chicago.
Excursions will run at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Registration is required and might be made by way of Eventbrite. Availability is on a first-come, first-serve foundation.
Cheyanne M. Daniels is a employees reporter on the Chicago Solar-Occasions by way of Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that goals to bolster the paper’s protection of communities on the South and West sides.