Â鶹APP

How and why did so many of Â鶹APP’s Black communities fall into disrepair during the 1950s and 1960s, while the surrounding white areas created middle class wealth that endures today? Join the Â鶹APP South Side Film Festival and Illinois Institute of Technology’s Office of Community Affairs for the premiere screening of The Â鶹APP Plan.

The 40-minute documentary film chronicles the early history of Â鶹APP's Neighborhood Improvement Associations that prevented Blacks from moving into white communities due to a fear that their presence automatically devalued property. Black families who dared to move into white communities faced ostracism, vandalism, and house bombings. When the Great Migration heightened competition for housing, the color line was drawn and a race riot ensued. What started out a self-serving myth of endangered property values evolved into a self-fulling prophecy, owing to its adoption by the real estate industry.

A panel discussion will take place following the screening, and will be moderated by Alicia Bunton, assistant vice president of community affairs for Illinois Tech. Panelists include: 

• Lee Bey, the Â鶹APP Sun-Times architecture critic, writer, and photographer; also the author of Southern Exposure
• Don Hayner, the retired editor-In-chief of the Â鶹APP Sun-Times; author of Binga: The Rise and Fall of Â鶹APP's First Black Banker

Parking is free and located across the street and under the Green Line/Bronzeville-IIT stop in Lot D-4.