Precursor, recently discovered, to the discussion which follows:   Diversity.

* 2/19/2018 the Doris Mitchell discussion. (Summary of the whole discussion thanks to Roger Griffith.) "Indeed, this is an interesting and thought-provoking conversation. Thank you Margie for keeping us all in touch, and Cliff, and your wife, for following up with the research; I hope to read it this weekend. Like many in our class, I knew there were a few black kids at Glenbard but never became acquainted because we didn't have classes or extra-curricular activities together."
While I had never heard about "sundowner" laws anywhere, much less in Chicago suburbs such as Lombard or Glen Ellyn, I can confirm that Lombard's realtors had an informal agreement to discourage black families from buying homes in town because my mother, a social worker and like my father, a social liberal, was a member of a group that sought to stop that practice. As I recall, it came from a fear of lowering property values. My mother said York Center, just south of Lombard, like Oak Park, welcomed black families, and they did so apparently with no problems. About 10 years ago, I visited Lilacia Park, one of my favorite places in Lombard, during Lilac Time. An elementary school field trip was there. There were maybe 2 black children; several appeared to be Latino; and several Vietnamese or other southeast Asian. Times change! Regarding your Greek father-in-law's experience, Cliff, and other examples of prejudice in times past that seems so odd to many people today, in 1970 an Italian acquaintance of a cousin of mine found she could not emigrate to Australia because she was not from northern Europe. Not too long after that, Vietnamese refugees sought asylum and other Asian people have settled there as well. I had a brush with discrmination myself when I worked in London for a year in 1965-66, needed a place to live and was taken aback to see "Europeans, only" in a notice posted about an otherwise good apartment; I looked elsewhere. As Cliff points out, there's a history off discrimination against Asians. Some of my older Japanese-American friends originally are from California and with their whole family, they were sent to the World War II internment camps, American citizens included. This did not happen to German or Italian people except for a few individuals who appeared suspicious. Hawaii did not suffer wholesale herding of its Japan-origin population into camps because, in part, they were important in the sugar and pineapple plantation labor force and also prominent Caucasian leaders in Hawaii spoke up for them as solid and patriotic citizens. Hawaii prides itself on its diverse population, I have many friends from within this diversity and Hawaii is among the states and cities protesting Pres. Trump's blanket bans on people from a list of Muslim countries in court. However, when I arrived in the 1970s, I was dismayed to see that Caucasian children often got picked on in local public schools where they were a distinct minority, and this was part of what led to Hawaii having an unusually high percentage of children in private schools. Their students aren't primarily white, but the environment discourages fights more than the public schools in some neighborhoods. Most successful Caucasian politicians here have a non-Caucasian spouse.
* Janet Thebaud Gillmar
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Thanks, Hardy, for sharing these stories. "Troublemaker" indeed can cover quite a range of characteristics! Where did you find his memoir? [Was in law school with the woman he later married, another Chicagoan, this one headed for New Trier, until her parents decided to move to L.A.] For 5 years our daughter and her family enjoyed living in Chicago's "little sister" on Lake Michigan, Milwaukee. My husband and I also enjoyed our visits to them, especially frequent due to their having a baby there and her husband having long work hours as a resident physician in the hospitals there, and some of the visits included stops in Chicago, I have enjoyed living in Honolulu, my husband's home town, the past 40-odd years, the stunning beauty of the landscape and our many friends here, often Asian-American. But it was nice to get back in touch with the seasons, the long public beach fronts in both cities, Morton Arboretum, and the friendliness of the northern Midwest. Hawaii calls it by the Hawaiian name, aloha.
* Janet Thebaud Gillmar ========================
Wonderful! * Kirkie 2/21/18 ========================
Who would have thought that the death of a classmate’s brother would have triggered so many memories, and brought out so much history, especially about how things have changed regarding race relations over the years, and how they still have a ways to go. Growing up in Glen Ellyn, every day at 6 PM the fire siren would sound. I was always of the understanding that it was simply a daily test of the siren. I remember that another area where blacks were living, was where Hill Avenue entered Wheaton, before it crossed the tracks. Hardy’s racial side story reminded me of a racial side story involving Bruce Spencer and I… Bruce Spencer and I attended Knox College in Galesburg Illinois. In our freshman year we joined a fraternity by the name of ADE (Alpha Delta Epsilon). It was the only non-segregated fraternity on campus. It had been a national fraternity until 1954, when they accepted a black student. The national said they had to get rid of the black student, or leave the national. They decided to keep the black student, leave the national, and form a new local fraternity, based on accepting a person based on their character, regardless of their race, creed, color, or religion. Our senior year, we even elected a black student as our fraternity president. Doris…I apologize for not remembering or knowing you. If it’s any consolation, as best as I can recall, I think your passing has triggered more conversation, memories, etc., than the passing of most of our other classmates, and what memories there are of you, are all positive. God’s Peace be with you Doris.
* Roger 2/21/18 ========================
I have a friend, thanks to his being married to a law school classmate of mine, who (like his wife) grew up in Chicago and now lives in southern California. He was a prominent figure in the antiwar movement, and indeed appears in Ken Burns' recent documentary, having just a few years ago, written a memoir. He entitled it "Troublemaker" -- the idea being that he found far-left revolutionary rhetoric (and actions) ridiculous, he didn't want to be a revolutionary, but he did want to be a troublemaker. Bill Zimmerman's is a terrific read. (His wife is Joan Andersson). Although the Vietnam War is at the center, it's also a book about Chicago -- indeed, the more I think about it, the more I realize it is a great book about Chicago, maybe the greatest. Not only does he describe growing up in our fair city, and attending U of C, but later in the book he is organizing the flights from Midway to ND and Wounded Knee to drop food in over the heads of the FBI. The team he put together was of ordinary citizens around the airport who knew how to fly; they were conservative, but they liked the idea of helping the embattled indians. To go back even before that, though, he has emailed me something that bears on the Doris Mitchell discussion. I mentioned to him that Wendy and I used to go to the Oak Street beach and dine at Pizzeria Uno and Due. He, a Southsider who had been a lifeguard, replied with this story: "I no longer remember if I included it in the book, but when the early sixties came and I grew my hair long, I was ordered to cut it by the lifeguard bureaucracy. When I refused, they transferred me [he'd been at the far northern beaches] to Oak St. Beach, without realizing it was where every lifeguard wanted to go because all the airline stewardesses staying in the nearby hotels hung out there. Lots of fun. Then a black man made the mistake of trying to enjoy himself on that beach. The lifeguards told him he had to go. Being a sub-captain at that point, I overruled them. They called the cops who ejected the black man, over my loud protests. Next day I was transferred again, this time to the 63rd St. beach on the south side. Blacks only, including the lifeguards. I loved it, and it was much more convenient to Hyde Park, which by then had become my new home. More fun."
* Hardy Wieting, Jr 2/21/18 ========================
I agree with the comments that this discussion has been most interesting and illuminating. I also think it has been useful in reminding us how much times have changed since when we were growing up and in high school, and as some have said how in many cases we were sheltered from the realities of what was going on. Like several others, I unfortunately do not remember Doris and only vaguely remember her brothers. When we moved to Glen Ellyn in the 1950's, I recall my parents saying something about the realtors having an agreement among themselves to not sell homes to blacks and also that there were covenants in some property deeds prohibiting the sale to Negroes. However, I don't think I ever heard about a 6 p.m. curfew if Glen Ellyn even had one. After reading the various posts in this thread, I mentioned them to my wife, the journalist and history researcher. She did some online checking and quickly found sites full of information on "sundown towns," not just in DuPage County or Illinois, but across the country. These were places that required blacks to leave at sundown, siren or not. One author and expert on the topic, James Loewen has a very interesting site with detailed information town by town, county by county, state by state The link to the Illinois page is at page while his home page is at home. The U.S. Census data he provides shows that in 1960, Glen Ellyn had 61 blacks living there growing to 575 in 2000. Nothing is shown for Lombard in 1960, but in 1970 there were only 14 and by 2000 there were 363. Click on the Naperville link to read some especially interesting background on that town. I must say I was startled to read the extent to which sundown laws were in effect everywhere, and in some places may still be. Thus it is not at all surprising that Lombard and Glen Ellyn could have had such ordinances on their books. African-Americans are not the only group to be discriminated against in housing and otherwise. Jewish people have faced this in some communities, possibly even in Glen Ellyn at one time. My father-in-law ,who had graduated from Georgetown and Yale, was told he could not buy a house in a subdivision in Washington D.C. in the early 1940's because he was born in Greece. The realtor told him flat out, "we don't sell to Greeks." My father-in-law subsequently bought just across the line in Maryland and was later appointed as a Federal Judge by President Eisenhower. Asians have been targeted as well, not only in housing, but just getting into the country. Does anyone remember from American History the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which kept out Chinese immigrants until it was repealed in 1943. Of course there was the infamous Executive Order 9066 issued 76 years ago yesterday, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps. Now it is the Muslims. Enough for tonight. Best personal regards to all.
* Cliff Argue 2/20/18 ========================
Marjory, This conversation has certainly been interesting. The Mitchells sound like they were an outstanding family and I am sorry not have known more about them when I was at Glenbard. I was aware of the “sunset” or “sundown” law in Lombard. I was told of it by my mother who had lived there all her life and thought the law to be ridiculous. I never associated the six o’clock whistle with the idea that it might have had racial undertones. How blissfuly unaware and uninformed I was. However, I did have a recurring conundrum which may have started in Mrs. Larson’s 7th grade social studies class when we did a full report on all the community’s departments, services and institutions. I could not reconcile the fact that there was such a law in our town when the community was so proud of the Peck House (on Grace and Parkside) which was an important part of the Underground Railroad! I do wonder when the sundown law came to be passed and I wonder if it was ever enforced…..I never heard that it was and I like to think it wasn’t, but who knows.
* Linnea Riley 2/20/18
[PS from Margie: Peck House now a museum, very worth visiting.] ========================
In many respects, we have moved on -- but as someone said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Here in Canada, we have our own dreadful stories around indigenous populatons out west and up north, despite apparent (and welcome ) diversity in most of our towns and cities. We can't change the past, but we can work for a better today and tomorrow. What an interesting discussion this has been! Cheers,
* Sheila Clarke 2/20/18 ========================
This seems to be a touchy subject with some, and we must remember that we have had hugely different experiences since 1959. I, for one, am glad that the world has made some changes, but maybe not enough or maybe ones that I don't like. We are fortunate to be able to look back and to learn about the way it was then and the way it is now. Whatever we discuss, let's not go into the more awful prejudice in G.E about religion, which went back to who could obtain what land for their church and how high the land's elevation was. . . Sigh . . .
* Mary Hanson 2/20/18 ========================
Regarding Chuck's experiences, I am a former RE broker, albeit dealing in commercial properties. A FSBO transaction would not have triggered anything as the title company would have noted it in their title report for the mortgage company. If the buyers were non black, it would not be an issue. But in all probability, it would have been ignored in the 1960's and later by both the title company and the lender since it was illegal. That is what I was told by my local title companies.
* Mike Menard ========================
This has been so interesting. Hardy, did you have any idea your posting would lead to this interesting discussion? If Glen Ellyn would have had the same 6:00 pm ordinance how would Doris and Rod have been able to come to any night activities at Glenbard? I looked William up in the 1958 yearbook and then remembered him. It said he was in choir his junior year so the whole family sang I guess. We live in an community with maybe 2 black families but one third Asian (mainly Korean). Angela Bassett and her husband who played Johnny Cochran in the OJ Simpson TV movie (can’t think of his name right now) live here. I think blacks would be accepted but they would have to be professionals because of the cost of housing. Can someone find out what the laws were in Glen Ellyn in the 50’s?
* Becky ========================
Bias was and is alive and located across the states and the world. What we knew then was informed by our own, our parents and friends experiences. I am sorry I was so clueless then. College and business life helped me later.
* Bob Stoothoff ========================
Let me tell you a not so long ago story- Somewhere in our family there was an uncle, a lovely man, deeply involved in nature and conservation. At one time, he became a realtor in a very conservative suburb of Illinois to the SW. He arranged a sale, and then discovered the professional family from Chicago with whom he was negotiating, were black. He suddenly found that the house was no longer available. The couple sued, and there was a settlement arranged by the uncle's company- but the couple either did not get the house or chose not to take it. I don't know the details, but I know that my uncle became office manager, was considered a local hero, but was no longer on the front sales line. There were no regulations, there were no laws to preclude other races from living in the suburb. There was strong - what, will? tradition? bigotry? all of the above, probably. When the uncle died, the town hall flag few at half mast. I looked up the demographics of that suburb just now- It is still well over 95% white. -not a story I enjoy telling, btw.
* Sheila Clarke (aka Sande Rockwell) 2/20/18 ========================
. . . Remember the "Six o'clock whistle" in Lombard? My mother told me years later that it's purpose was to alert the blacks to leave. And I thought that it meant that it was time to come in from playing with the neighborhood kids and eat dinner.
* Margie ========================
I know of a family and I don’t know for sure it was Mitchell —that lived on Carlton just north of Duane. They were black and had a daughter who was a great singer and supposedly went in to the Lyric Opera company. They lived completely within the village. I see Doris and her brother “B.” Mitchell as juniors in Mr. Hutt homeroom. You know my family has been long time residents of Glen Ellyn, my parents had businesses in town, and I never ever heard that blacks were forbidden places or controlled by curfews in village or Lombard.
* Marybert ========================
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All very interesting. My parents purchased our Glen Ellyn home from the owner. No realtor. There were many homes for sale by owners in Glen Ellyn in 1955. Becky and I purchased a home in Mount Prospect in 1966 via a realtor and sold it in 1967 by owner. Nothing in those sale agreements about any restrictions regarding blacks. My parents never talked about racism issues.
* Chuck 2/20/18 ========================
Yes, Jan, I remember this, too. In junior high we all were assigned to do a paper about some aspect of Lombard history. I don't recall who it was who uncovered this ordinance, but it was still in force in 1955, and stated that blacks had to be out of town by 6:00 p.m. I don't recall ever hearing about any such restrictions in Glen Ellyn or other surrounding towns and I never knew exactly where the Mitchell family lived. I do know that when this came up in 1955 all of us were pretty much dismayed but had no idea why no one had ever changed the law.
* Jill Hollifield ========================
There was an ordinance in Lombard that blacks had to leave town by 6:00 pm since the cleaning people and workmen were the only blacks there during the day. Blacks were not allowed to own property or rent which is why the blacks in Glenbard did not live within the city limits. I remember my parents telling me about this when we were in high school. We think of discrimination as being in the South; but the suburbs were where the whites moved to separate themselves from the blacks in the cities in the North.
* Janet Kelley Halvorsen ========================
I had also heard that Blacks were not allowed in Glen Ellyn but this was for after dark. This is many years ago.
* Linda Pond ========================
I read in a history book of Lombard that there was a village ordinance not allowing blacks that was revoked in 1969. I have no idea if it was enforced. Here in ultra liberal Madison, Wisconsin, a large subdivision development in the 1920’s had a deed restriction against "Ethiopians" not to mention corn (!). I want to mention something here that is only generally related, but is interesting. Barry Brynjolfsson -- His proudest accomplishment was when he bought the bank he worked in and saw several hardworking employees (mostly women) working at tasks far above their job titles. His first promoted employee was a black women with 15 years on the job. He called her into his office, and like most people, she feared for her job under the new boss. Instead, he told her she was doing a good job, and she was now a bank officer. She bawled, as you can imagine, a black woman in a small southern town, getting a prestigious job.
* Mike Menard ========================
Mary: Your statement that “ blacks were not allowed in Glen Ellyn ” is NONSENSE!
* Chuck Gelhaar 2/20/18 =========================
Doris sang "Embraceable You" in one of our shows, maybe not the talent show. She had on a gorgeous dress, and her song surprised and melted the audience. Her family had to live outside of the village limits because--and this is hard to say--blacks were not allowed in Glen Ellyn. Both of them came to school impeccably dressed and never seemed to approach "us" or to look for any acceptance. I was told that her parents collected our garbage, which may or not be true. If it is, they probably did quite well. That's a difficult one to remember, isn't it? Love to all of you,
* Mary Hanson 2/19/18 =========================
I felt sorry for Doris not only for her being the only black girl in HS at the time but she also had to deal with her strict church background in that she was not allowed to participate in our social dance class in gym (her choice). I cringe at the memory of being next to her brother in a washroom and being startled to see him wash his hands and have his palms be white, as if he scrubbed his skin color off! Yipes, my ignorance was appalling.
* Mike Menard 2/19/18 =========================
I first met Doris when I moved to Glen Ellyn in 8th grade. We went to Wagner Grade School on Park Blvd, just south of Roosevelt. Sorry to hear of her passing.
* Betty Rawaillot Miller 2/19/18 ========================
I don’t remember Doris, but I do remember her brother Rod. At the time, I thought he was the only African-American at Glenbard.
* Roger 2/19/18 =========================
I believe the Mitchells lived on the north side of Geneva Road at the end of Pleasant. That was outside the "city limits" at that time. I also remember her brother singing and sounding like Johnny Mathis.
* Judy Smith Noren =========================
I remember Rod singing just like Johnny Mathis!! I always felt a little sorry for Doris because Rod got so much attention and I think she was shy. Times were so different then for an only black girl in a white school. Does anyone know what happened to Rod? It lists him living in Los Angeles. I wonder if he got into the entertainment field. Ed sure accomplished a lot.
* Becky =========================
I remember Rod singing "Misty" at the Heart Hop dance. I always remembered that when I would hear “Misty".
* Mary Lou Grant =========================
Sure do! I often thought how difficult it must be for their entire family because as I recall, they were the only black family in the entire school.
* Jillayne Hollifield =========================
* Mike Menard also remembers Doris’s younger brother singing in the talent show. =========================
I am as clueless. Of course it was a big class.
* Bob Stoothoff ==========================
We had an African-American girl in our class?? I am totally blank on that. I looked up her photo in the 1959 yearbook, and that didn't help. According to the yearbook, she sang in the choir the same years I did. Could I have not noticed her race? I looked up her obituary which tells nothing of her life and uses her high school senior photo. Please tell me there is someone out there as oblivious as I. Margie, my computer won't send to a long list as yours can. Please pose the question for me. I'm embarrassed to be so ignorant but curious to see if there is anyone else like me.
* Jan Whittaker Rink ==========================
I remember Doris and her brother Rod. I was going to say, too, that I remember he had a beautiful singing voice. Was he in the class behind us? I can’t put my hands on my yearbooks right now.
* Ann Ryan Waidelich =========================
Margie, Doris was quite a girl. One of the nicest. When my brother student taught in choir at Glenbard (our junior year, I think), Doris told me that she "digs Mr. W the most" -- my lily white ears were both shocked and pleased. (easily shocked, I know) I remember Rod, her younger brother in a white suit singing Johnny Mathis song ("Chances Are"?) at talent show.
* Neal Whitecotton ==========================
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2018 12:19 PM Hardy remarked when sending the obit of Doris’s older brother that, “ He was quite a guy!" I don't doubt that Willie was too and that Doris was quite a woman. Joe Petter added the following. "Margie, Doris Mitchell’s other older brother, Willie (William) Mitchell was Class of 1958, and, according to the obit, he also passed away some time ago."
* Margie    * Joe Petter ========================
From: Margie Stoll Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2018 6:50 PM Subject: Our classmate Doris Mitchell.
Hardy found the following 2013 obit for Doris Mitchell's older brother, Edgar. It mentions that Doris preceded her brother in death. Although we do not have an obit for Doris, I've included her brother's. It’s worth reading.
Edgar
[Postscript:] we have now found Doris's: Doris
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Geneology note (from Edgar's obit):
Parents of Doris:
Elliott Dupree Mitchell and Zenobia Odom Mitchell.
Brothers of Doris:
Edgar (born 1932); Elliott; William, and Rodney.
Sisters of Doris:
Harriet and Barbara.