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Yesterday, May 5, was National Teacher Appreciation Day, celebrated annually on the Tuesday of the first full week in May. The Ridge communities have had many, many fine teachers through the years. The Ridge Historical Society will share profiles of a few of them.

Let’s start with Elizabeth “Bessie” Bingle Huntington Sutherland, a very respected and forward-thinking leader in the education field.

Bessie was born in 1851 on the Ridge. Her parents, Samuel and Maria Robinson Huntington, were part of the earliest Ridge pioneer families. Samuel was a farmer and kept stock, then became involved with the railroads, and served as sheriff of the early settlement that would become the City of Blue Island. Maria was reputed to have been an early teacher in Blue Island, making $1.00 per week for her efforts.

Around 1854, a two-room school house was built in Blue Island, and it is probable that Bessie attended this school as a child. The Cook County Normal School was established in 1867. The name “normal school” was used for teacher preparation programs because they established teaching standards or “norms.” Bessie graduated from this school in 1869. This school eventually evolved into Chicago State University.

Bessie’s career as a teacher included the Blue Island school and the Hyde Park high school. She took graduate classes at the University of Chicago. The Washington Heights public school started in 1874, and Bessie became principal there in 1883, the first woman to be named a principal in Cook County. In 1893, this school was renamed the Alice L. Barnard School, after another Ridge native who had become the first woman principal of a Chicago school.

Bessie became a teacher during the “Progressive Era,” that time of significant reform in all areas of life. The field of education made great advances during this time, as the philosophy of learning changed from rote memorization to exploration and experimentation. Bessie surely knew two of the movement's leaders in Chicago, Francis W. Parker, who became head of the Cook County Normal School, and John Dewey, who established the University of Chicago Laboratory School.

An anecdote about Bessie illustrates the Progressive educator. While principal at the Barnard School, one day she heard that a camel had escaped from a traveling show and was freely roaming the local woods. She gathered the entire student body and led an impromptu field trip to the woods to observe the camel “in the wild” and share a lesson on animals of the world.

In those years, women teachers were not allowed to marry if they wished to remain employed. Bessie put off marriage to David Sutherland until her 43rd birthday in 1894. Sutherland, 17 years Bessie’s senior, was a real estate developer with considerable property on the south and west sides of Chicago. They made their home at 1638 West 103rd Street. The couple had no children, and David died in 1904.

Bessie served as the principal of Barnard School for almost 40 years. She resigned in 1923, and died in 1924. She was buried in Mt. Greenwood Cemetery. In 1925, the new school built at 101st and Leavitt Sts. was named in her honor.

The Ridge Historical Society

Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 1: Alice L. Barnard

It is graduation time, and while the emphasis is on the graduates at this time, recognition is also due the teachers who encouraged the students along their paths of exploration and discovery. “Teachers” is used in a broad sense here to include professional educators as well as other role models and advisors who made lasting impressions.

There are dozens of Chicago public schools in Beverly, Morgan Park, Washington Heights and Mount Greenwood. Nineteen of them are named for individuals who made contributions to education and other important fields. This series will look at those people.

A good place to start is with Alice Lucretia Barnard (1829 – 1908) whose namesake school is at 10354 S. Charles St., because it was education that brought the Barnard family to the Blue Island Ridge in 1846 in the first place.

Alice’s brother was William Barnard, a graduate of Amherst University in Massachusetts. Deciding to seek new opportunities in the West, he made it as far as Chicago, where he had a chance encounter with Thomas Morgan, the wealthy Englishman who bought thousands of acres of land on top of and surrounding the Ridge and gave his family’s name to Morgan Park. Morgan talked William into taking a job as tutor for Morgan’s children. William moved to the Ridge, and other family members soon followed.

Alice was educated in Massachusetts and later she attended Mount Holyoke Seminary which she left after two years because there was “little independence in thought.” She was an early “progressive” teacher, believing in “the opportunity to study from life” and not just the memorization of facts. She advocated for better education opportunities for women and was disappointed she could not study chemistry and other sciences in a laboratory.

Alice began her teaching career at age 17 in Chicago in a one-room schoolhouse. After a few years, she found herself at the Dearborn School, at Madison and Dearborn. At the time of the U.S. Civil War, she angered some school officials by writing a paper favoring the rights of children of color in school. The teachers and children marched in a procession to the Court House to view President Lincoln’s body lying in state after his assassination in April 1865. She met past President Gen. Ulysses Grant when he visited Chicago in 1879.

When offered the position of principal at the school in 1867, she declined because she would have been paid a lower salary than men in the same position. This was considered rank insubordination and the head of the education board called for her to be fired, but wiser heads prevailed and she took the job of head assistant instead.

She had the support of “Long John” Wentworth, the very powerful past mayor of Chicago, U.S. Congressman, and newspaper editor. A few years later, in 1871, she was named principal, one of the first women in the city to receive an appointment, and she was paid the same rate as the men. But that position was short-lived. The Dearborn School site was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871.

She was principal of Harrison School for a year, then in 1873 moved to Jones School as Head Assistant, at 12th Street and Wabash where a new school building had just opened. That school was destroyed by fire the following year and rebuilt in 1875. In 1876, when the principal resigned, the teachers petitioned to have her appointed to the position. She became principal of the school, where she stayed until retirement. That school is now Jones College Prep.

Alice never married; back then women teachers were usually required to give up outside employment if they married. She invested her money independently in real estate.

She was a member of Bethany Union Church, and also the First Presbyterian Church. She lived with her sisters and brothers in a charming house at 103rd St. and Longwood Drive, across from Givins’ Castle, and cultivated flowers. She entertained her students there, and she regularly decorated the classrooms at Jones with fresh bouquets. Her nephew later started a seed farm there. Today a CVS drug store is on that site.

Alice received considerable newspaper coverage in her lifetime – she was a celebrity in Chicago. The Inter Ocean ran a full page story about her in 1891 when she retired. It was hoped she would become a member of the Board of Education but that did not happen. Perhaps she was content to live in Washington Heights, the name for the area before "Beverly Hills" became popular, and tend her peonies.

In 1890, the Washington Heights School was severely damaged by fire. It was closed for a few years while it was rebuilt, and in 1892 the school reopened, now named for Alice L. Barnard. Such an honor is usually awarded after a person’s death, but Alice was still very much alive.

When she fell ill in 1908, it was covered in the Chicago papers. Alice was described by the Chicago Tribune as “one of the best known teachers in Chicago.” Upon her death, many tributes were given to her. She was laid to rest in Mount Greenwood Cemetery.

Ridge Historical Society

Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 2: Percy Julian

This is the second in our series on people who have schools in a Ridge community named for them.

“In a nuclear world where time is of the essence in reaching a solution to the problems of conflicts between groups, peoples, and nations, we either rededicate ourselves to the principles that, though oft unheeded, have urged us on to the “everlasting right way,” or we shall hasten the destruction of civilization.” – Dr. Percy Julian, at a conference on human relations, Highland Park, IL

Percy Lavon Julian (1899-1975) made the above statement in 1962, over 50 years ago. He might have been speaking of today.

Percy Julian was a brilliant research scientist. During his lifetime, he received over 130 chemical patents. He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1973. This was a break-through – he was the first African American chemist to receive this honor.

Dr. Julian was a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He worked with the Calabar bean, a poisonous legume from Africa, that offered up a treatment for glaucoma. He isolated soy protein which could be used to replace more expensive milk protein in many applications. He synthesized human hormones, progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone, from soy sterols, leading to fertility and other therapies. In 1949, researchers at Mayo Clinic showed the effectiveness of cortisone in treating rheumatoid arthritis. Julian improved the process for producing cortisone, greatly reducing costs.

Through all of this, he dealt with racism and discrimination because he was African American.

Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama, at the turn of the last century. His grandparents were emancipated slaves; the Civil War had ended just 34 years before.

Obtaining an education was difficult. There were few opportunities for black students. He was accepted at DePauw University in Indiana, but he was not allowed to live in the dorm. The boarding house he found refused to feed him at the table with the other boarders. He went for days without food before he found a place that would serve him. He was years behind the white students academically and he took high school classes at night to catch up while attending college classes during the day. Despite all of this, he graduated first in his class and was valedictorian.

Julian yearned for a doctorate in chemistry. He received a scholarship that allowed him to earn his master’s degree at Harvard University. However, because white students objected to being taught by a black instructor, he was refused a teaching assistantship that would have allowed him to go on for a Ph.D.

He was later awarded a fellowship to the University of Vienna, Austria, and earned his Ph.D. in 1931. In Europe, he was welcomed into a social and intellectual life he was denied in the U.S. He studied classical music and poets. He attended the opera and drank wine at outdoor cafes. His status as a prized student allowed him to develop self-confidence. He made life-long friends in the European community. He helped Jewish friends escape the Holocaust and move to the U.S.

Back home in the States, employment proved difficult. He took a position teaching at Howard University, the historically black university in Washington, D.C. There he met his future wife, Anna Roselle Thompson. Anna was a scholar in her own right and would have many accomplishments in her life.

He accepted a research fellowship at DePauw, and his career as a research scientist began. However, he was denied a teaching professorship there and had to find new employment. The university told him "the time wasn't right" for a black professor. DuPont offered a job to his research partner at DePauw, who was white, but declined to hire Julian, apologizing that the company was “unaware he was a Negro.”

In 1936, he was offered a job at the Glidden Company as director of research of their soy products division in Chicago. He had contacted them previously to obtain soybean oil to use for experiments. An important factor in the job offer was that he could speak German fluently and the company had just purchased a soybean-processing plant in Germany.

Glidden was founded in 1875 as the maker of varnishes and expanded into other chemicals and pigments. The company was eventually taken over by conglomerate PPG Industries and Glidden is now the brand name of the paint division.

Julian took the job with Glidden and moved to Chicago. He stayed with Glidden until 1953. During this time, he did much of his remarkable research work.

Percy Julian was named Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Sun-Times in 1950. That same year, Percy, Anna, and their two children were living in Maywood when they decided to move to Oak Park. There were no black residents in that suburb. They purchased a 15-room home that they were remodeling and landscaping when attempts were made to burn the house down. Someone broke in and poured gasoline all over, but the fuse did not light. The following summer, a dynamite bomb was thrown from a passing car, exploding in the flower beds in the front of the house. At the time, their children, ages 11 and 7, were at home with a caregiver and a security guard.

The police reported they could not identify any suspects for the crimes. Many white members of the community were appalled at the treatment the Julians were receiving and formed a group to support and help them. Even so, threats continued for many more years.

In 1953, Glidden got out of the steroid business, which, despite Julian’s innovations, was never profitable. Julian founded his own research firm, Julian Laboratories, Inc., in Franklin Park, Illinois. He continued to work on synthesizing hormones using Mexican and Guatemalan yams. Julian sold his company in 1961 to Smith Kline and Upjohn for $2.3 million.

During his lifetime, Julian received awards and recognition. Some examples are included in the accompanying images. He died in April of 1975, and that fall, the Percy L. Julian High School opened at 10330 S. Elizabeth Street. Since his death, recognition has continued. In 1993, he was featured on the Black Heritage stamp, a series initiated by the U.S. Postal Service in 1978.

There is so much more information available on the life of Percy Julian. Readers are encouraged to Google his name to access the numerous websites that share his story.

After he retired, he said of his life and career, “I feel that my own good country robbed me of the chance for some of the great experiences that I would have liked to live through. Instead, I took a job where I could get one and tried to make the best of it. I have been, perhaps, a good chemist, but not the chemist that I dreamed of being.”

Despite the burden of racial discrimination, Percy Julian achieved great things – by any standards, he was much more than just a “good” chemist. Chemistry was the break-through “technology” of the early and mid-1900s. How much more might he have contributed if he had been given the chance?

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 3: Charles Henry Wacker

This is third in our series of people who have schools named for them on the Ridge.

Charles Henry Wacker (1856-1929) was a successful businessman who devoted his time and effort to making Chicago a thriving and attractive city. The son of German immigrants, his story also illustrates the contributions that people of German descent made to Chicago’s development.

Wacker was born in Chicago right before the U. S. Civil War. He was educated in Chicago-area schools and then attended college in Germany and Switzerland. As a youth, his family took extended trips to Europe and he even visited Egypt.

Wacker’s father was in the brewery business, one of the many German immigrants who brought his love for beer and his knowledge of brewing it to the United States. Wacker became his father’s partner in 1880 with the F. Wacker and Son malting business in Chicago. He became secretary and treasurer when his father joined with Jacob Birk to incorporate the Wacker and Birk Brewing and Malting Company in 1882. This operation was located at Grand Avenue and Desplaines Street.

Both of his parents died in 1884, leaving Charles, 28, an only child, with an inheritance of $600,000, quite a sum for the time. He became president and treasurer of the brewery. As president of the State Liquor Dealers’ Protective Association during this time, he was a vocal critic of the temperance movement, urging saloonkeepers to organize against city laws that interfered with the sale of alcohol. A few years later, he sold the brewery to an English group. Prohibition put an end to the company, and the property was put on the market in 1920.

Wacker became involved in other businesses, including banking and real estate. At the time, the city and suburbs were rapidly growing, and people could become millionaires in a short time through investing in real estate developments. Wacker became connected to the south side as the president of the Chicago Heights Land Association, which planned and developed that community southeast of the Ridge as an industrial and residential hub.

In 1887, Wacker married Ottille M. Glade, a Chicago native, and they had two sons and a daughter. They lived at several locations on the near north side. In 1892-93, Wacker built a “cottage” on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, that he called Fair Lawn, complete with a Tiffany stained glass dome, billiard room, servants’ quarters and landscaping by noted landscape architect Jens Jensen. This second home became a favorite place for the family to spend summers and weekends.

“Tillie” Wacker died in 1904 at the age of 36 following an operation for appendicitis. Fifteen years later, Wacker remarried to Ella M. Todtmann, his secretary, almost 30 years his junior.

Wacker grew in prominence with the city. He became involved in numerous organizations and clubs. He was nominated for public office, and was even encouraged to run for mayor, but he declined those opportunities.

He was recognized for his service as the youngest member on the board of directors for the 1893 World’s Fair, the Columbian Exposition. He was a member of several committees, including Ways and Means, and Entertainment.

Charles Wacker is ultimately best remembered for his work as the Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission, an appointed position he held from 1909 until 1926.

After the 1893 World’s Fair, the leading businessmen in Chicago began to discuss the need for a plan to manage the development, growth and lay-out of the city. In 1907, the Commercial Club, a social organization of these men, worked with Daniel Burnham, the city planner and architect who had created the White City for the World’s Fair, to create such a plan. The Plan of Chicago was published the following year. It’s often referred to as Burnham’s Plan for Chicago.

In 1909, the Mayor of Chicago, Fred A. Busse, and the city council formed the Chicago Plan Commission, and appointed over 300 businessmen, heads of government agencies, and other leaders as members. Wacker, who had been serving as Chair of the Commercial Club’s Plan Committee, was appointed permanent chair of the Commission.

The Plan of Chicago focused on improvements to the lakefront, streets and highways, railway systems, parks, and civic and cultural institutions. Until the Great Depression, the Plan led Chicago development, although it was not followed precisely or completely and there were plenty of conflicts, not surprising in a large city.

Thanks to the Commission and Wacker’s leadership, the Plan led to the lakefront public parkland, the forest preserve system, many neighborhood parks, the street grid, Union Station, Soldier Field, Navy Pier, today’s “museum campus,” and Michigan Avenue. There were countless smaller improvements. Wacker was a tireless cheerleader for the plan, connecting it to the future of the city. He even had a book for schoolchildren produced in 1913, Wacker’s Manual of the Plan of Chicago, so that they would understand and support the plan.

During the years of World War I, the Plan was mostly put on hold. Wacker was involved in many German American organizations, including serving as president of the German Relief Society. Relief organizations to help immigrants from various countries were common. Wacker found it necessary, due to wartime anti-German sentiment, to publicly declare, “We are American citizens first.” Plans for the annual “German Day” at Riverview were canceled so as not to invite demonstrators. Efforts were turned toward collecting for the Red Cross, of which Wacker was a member and spokesperson. Wacker’s son served in the U.S. military in WWI.

Wacker Drive was a special project that came out of the Plan to deal with River Street and Water Street, an extremely congested route that ran along the south side of the river, with buildings backing up right onto the water. The concept of the “double-decker” street was to have local traffic use the top level, with deliveries, through traffic, and access to/from river docks on the bottom level.

Wacker was an enthusiastic supporter of this plan. The first phase along the river was finished in 1926 for a cost of $8 million. The street was named in honor of Wacker. The bend and the south portion came later, in 1948-54, and the extensions east of Michigan Avenue were added in 1963 and 1975.

Failing heath caused Wacker to resign from the Commission in 1926. He died a few years later at the Lake Geneva house at the age of 73. He was buried in Graceland Cemetery on the north side of Chicago.

In addition to Wacker Drive, Wacker Elementary School at 9746 S. Morgan Street was named to honor him.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 4: John H. Vanderpoel

This is fourth in our series of people who have schools named for them on the Ridge.

John H. Vanderpoel (1857 -1911) was an artist and educator who lived in Beverly. He is best remembered for his 30-plus years of affiliation with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Vanderpoel was born in Holland, one of ten children. His mother died when he was young, and his father moved the family to the U.S. when Vanderpoel was 11. Settling in Chicago, his father became active in politics and served as chief clerk of the probate court.

A gymnasium accident when he was 14 left young Vanderpoel with physical disabilities. While recuperating, he spent his time drawing. His talent was evident, and he set his heart on becoming an artist. As a teen, employed in a shop selling wallpaper, he used the backs of the rolls to practice his art. His employer fired him “before the whole of the store’s supply was ruined.”

Vanderpoel was awarded a scholarship to the Academy of Design, which eventually evolved into the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1880, he was appointed an assistant art instructor. The Academy gave him a fellowship to study in Paris for two years.

Upon his return to Chicago, Vanderpoel’s work was shown in many exhibits and his reputation grew. He was named head instructor at the SAIC. He exhibited five paintings and was a juror for artwork at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He was awarded a bronze medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.

His book The Human Figure became a standard textbook for art school students and earned Vanderpoel the reputation as one of America's foremost authorities on figure drawing. One of his students at the SAIC was Georgia O’Keeffe, who praised Vanderpoel as “one of the few real teachers I have known.”

Vanderpoel took a leave of absence in late 1910 to move to St. Louis to head a museum and establish an art program. While there, in May of 1911, he died from a heart attack. He was survived by his wife, Jessie, and two children, Dorothy and David.

John H. Vanderpoel’s career has been well documented and can be found on-line. Less known is his history on the Ridge.

It was long assumed that it was the first executive director of the Art Institute, William Merchant Richardson French, who influenced Vanderpoel to settle in Beverly, but that is probably not the case; in fact, it is likely the other way around.

In 1890, Jessie Elizabeth Humphries was a student at the SAIC, living with her parents at “W. Meridian near Tracy Ave.” Today, that is 103rd Street and Walden Parkway. Vanderpoel was living with his father near Roosevelt Road and Western Ave. Vanderpoel and Jessie married on December 23 of that year, and he moved into the Humphries family house. In 1893, they had a daughter, Dorothy, while they were living at that address. The entire family including in-laws moved to 9319 S. Pleasant Ave., the house that is known today as the “Vanderpoel house.”

French married artist Alice Helm in March of 1890. They built a house at 9203 S. Pleasant Ave., which they moved into in 1894. That house also still stands. Some credit Alice Helm French with giving the name “Beverly Hills” to the area because the terrain reminded her of Beverly, Massachusetts.

Matilda Vanderpoel, John’s sister who was also an artist and instructor at SAIC, later joined them in North Beverly, living at 9431 S. Pleasant Ave.

In 1911, Vanderpoel’s death was a great loss to the art community. A public wake was held at the Art Institute and prominent artists from all over the country as well as hundreds of his past students viewed his casket. He was buried in Mt. Greenwood Cemetery.

His friends and neighbors in Beverly and the art world sought ways to honor and remember him.

A new school was under construction at 95th Street between Howard Court and Prospect Ave., and his friends petitioned to have it named in Vanderpoel’s honor. The president of the Chicago Board of Education denied the request because the school had already been named for John Farson, a prominent banker and lawyer well known in Chicago financial and social circles who had died in 1910. In fact, Farson’s name was already chiseled in stone on the school facade.

But the community persisted. Alice Helm French along with others continued to petition the school board. Mrs. French contacted Farson’s widow, who lived in Oak Park and planned on relocating from the Chicago-area soon. Mrs. Farson had no objection to naming the school for Vanderpoel, and in fact had never been consulted by the school board about naming it for her husband in the first place. Mrs. Farson wrote a letter to this effect to the school board. After a year and a half of “more or less agitation,” Farson School was finally renamed for Vanderpoel. A memorial program to honor him was held at the school in May of 1913. Later, the street Howard Court was renamed Vanderpoel Avenue.

In 1914, his friends bought one of Vanderpoel’s paintings and installed it in the Vanderpoel School. Artists were invited to contribute works to continue this memorial. This was a usual practice then, to decorate schools with original artwork. By 1929 the collection had outgrown the school and arrangements were made with the Ridge Park District to move the collection there, creating the Vanderpoel Art Gallery. Today the gallery, in the Ridge Park field house at 96th Street and Longwood Drive, owns a world-class collection of paintings and other artwork.

These sites in Beverly are named for John Vanderpoel, but his true legacy was establishing SAIC’s reputation as a superb art school over 100 years ago.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Part 1 of Profile 5: Johnnie Colemon

This is fifth in our series of people who have schools named for them on the Ridge.

Johnnie Colemon (1920 – 2014) was a religious leader who inspired tens of thousands of people. Despite persistent racism and discrimination, she was a trailblazer who opened paths for other African American women to enter the ministry. And even though she had numerous distinctions, she always insisted people just call her Johnnie. Today is an appropriate day to begin Johnnie’s story.

Today is June 19th, or Juneteenth, a day we commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. It dates back to 1865, when Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas, with the news that the Civil War had ended and that all slaves were now free. Actually, of course, President Abraham Lincoln had declared the end of slavery as of January 1, 1863, with the Emancipation Proclamation, but the southern states had not honored that. It took over two more years of bloodshed to make emancipation a reality.

Annual celebrations on this day started with African Americans in Texas and with time spread throughout the country. The day has been celebrated in African American communities for over 150 years, and is finally receiving more widespread recognition. Some states recognize it as an official holiday. The Federal government has acknowledged the day as “Juneteenth Independence Day” and efforts continue to establish it as a national holiday. The day is known as America’s Second Independence Day.

More of Johnnie Colemon’s life will be covered in a second post. These are just some highlights.

Johnnie was born in Alabama and raised in Mississippi. In 1943, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Wylie College, which, interestingly for our story today, is a historically black college located in Texas.

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are those institutions founded specifically to serve African Americans. Most are located in the southern states and most were founded in the years following the U.S. Civil War. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, most colleges in the south prohibited African Americans from attending, and quite a few colleges in other parts of the country had policies and quotas limiting black students. HBCUs were established to allow black students to receive the educations rightfully due to them, and they persisted despite racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws. These colleges were often started with the assistance of religious missionary organizations. Wylie College was founded in 1873 by Rev. Isaac Wiley, a physician, and bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

After earning her degree, Johnnie moved to Chicago and was a Chicago public school teacher. A health crisis in the early 1950s led her to the Unity Church, which had started in 1889 as a spiritual healing ministry. In 1956, Johnnie became the first African American woman ordained a Unity minister. She returned to Chicago and started a congregation in a YMCA.

Johnnie’s positive and practical approach to religion and life drew many followers. She built her first church in the 1960s. She was elected the first African American president of the Association of Unity Churches in 1968. This caused some of the churches to quit the association. Even though the church preached that every person was a unique expression of God, sacred and worthy, the reality is that there was much systemic racism.

Johnnie named her church the Christ Universal Temple. In 1985, she became the minister of the “megachurch” she aspired to when she had a new 3500-seat facility built at 119th Street and Ashland Avenue. In addition to the auditorium, the building included a 470-seat chapel, a banquet hall, a bookstore, and a prayer ministry. More facilities were added later. At the time the Temple was built, Johnnie had a following of over 10,000, and this would more than double before she retired in 2006.

Videos of some of Johnnie Colemon’s sermons can be found on YouTube. Her doctrine was to think positively and concentrate on the present and the future. One of her sermons that was published, given in 2002, is titled, “Dear Enemy, I Love You.” Here is an excerpt.

“…. I want to say – “Dear enemy, I love you,” not because I want to, but because I have to! Not for your sake, for my own sake. I love you, enemy, because to hate, to harbor resentment, is what I call spiritual suicide. Hate ain’t killing nobody but yourself.

“Let’s review the word forgiveness. You’ve heard it a million times here in class, and you need to hear it a million times more. Forgiveness means to give for. Forgiveness means the giving up of something. It means to give love for hate. It means to give understanding for misunderstanding. It means to give joy for sadness. What do you need to give up? Can’t nobody answer that for you but you.

“What did Jesus Christ say about it? Jesus Christ said, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ Now, that’s what Jesus said. Can you live according to the teachings of Jesus Christ? Can you follow His example? Jesus was above all hatred, all animosity, and all thoughts of revenge. He proved it that day at Calvary.”

Words for all of us to consider.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Part 2 of Profile 5: Johnnie Colemon

This is fifth in our series on people who have schools named for them on the Ridge.

Johnnie Colemon (1920 – 2014) was a religious leader who inspired tens of thousands of people. This is a continuation of her story started on Juneteenth.

Any discussion of the African Americans on our list must include their experiences with racism and discrimination. This was part of the very fabric of their lives. The fact that they succeeded despite these barriers illustrates just what extraordinary, inspirational people they were.

Despite her numerous titles, she always insisted people just call her Johnnie. She was born Johnnie Mae Haley in Alabama and raised in Mississippi. Like many people, her childhood dream was to be in show business – she wanted to play the saxophone or be a dancer on Broadway. And apparently, like for most of us, practicality won out. In 1943, she received a bachelor’s degree from Wylie College in Texas, an historically black college, where she excelled in her studies and in sports, and was voted the “most versatile” student in her class.

She taught school in Mississippi, and then moved to Chicago and taught in the Chicago public schools. In 1952, her teaching career was cut short by illness, and that is when she turned to religion.

Her journey took her to the Unity Church, which was founded in 1889 as a spiritual healing ministry. Today it is part of the “New Thought” movement. As it is beyond the scope of this post to go into the details of a religious movement, readers who want more information can research this on-line.

Johnnie often talked about her insecurities from her early years. She was an only child. She was named for her father, John, who had wanted a son. She spent much of her youth trying to win his approval. At Wylie, she called herself an “ugly duckling.” She was not considered attractive; she was too tall and thin and her skin too black. She was rejected by the top sorority. She would credit her embracement of the New Thought teachings with greatly increasing her self-esteem.

Johnnie visited Unity headquarters near Kansas City, Missouri, and immediately felt at home with the teachings. But even though the church taught that each person was a unique expression of God, sacred and worthy, Johnnie encountered what she described as blatant racism. She was accepted into the Unity School of Christianity, but black students were not allowed to live in the school’s cottages or eat in the school restaurant, and had to sit in a segregated, roped off section in church. Johnnie voiced her objections to these arrangements, and not surprisingly, many of the whites considered her “arrogant.” But an unused cottage was made ready for her, although it was set apart from those of the white residents. She was the first black person to live on campus.

In 1953, Johnnie married Richard Colemon, a delicatessen operator in Chicago. She kept this name throughout her career.

She became an ordained Unity minister in 1956, the first African American woman to do so. Returning to Chicago, she started her own church. In 1968, she was elected the first black president of the Association of Unity Churches. This prompted some churches to quit. In 1974, Johnnie withdrew her church from the Unity organization, in part due to the systemic racism and also because her philosophies were developing in other directions.

At that time, she renamed her church Christ Universal Temple (CUT). She also formed her own organization of churches, the Universal Foundation for Better Living, that grew to twenty member churches internationally.

Her influence spread. Her sermons with positive, practical, understandable messages were well-received and her congregation kept growing. By 1985, CTU had grown into a megachurch and needed a building to accommodate its size. With loans and donations, Johnnie had a new facility built at 119th Street and Ashland Avenue. This facility included a 3500-seat auditorium, a chapel, a bookstore, banquet facility, and a prayer center.

In 1999, she built a private elementary school as part of the complex, which was named the Johnnie Colemon Academy. The school did not attract the number of students needed to stay open, and beginning in 2001, the Chicago Board of Education (CBOE) rented the building for a public school.

In keeping with the separation of church and state, the current regulations for Chicago public schools forbid naming a school for a religious leader. However, this school came with a name in place as part of a campus. The rental agreement kept the name of the school, and also agreed to hire all existing teachers and staff who met Board guidelines.

In addition to her ministry, Johnnie also held civic positions. She was a director of the Chicago Port Authority and a commissioner on the Chicago Transit Authority Oversight Committee. She received too many honors and awards to list, including honorary doctorates. Mayor Harold Washington declared August 18, 1985 as Rev. Dr. Johnnie Colemon Day in Chicago and she was given the key to the city. Washington’s funeral was held at CTU in 1987. Johnnie ordained actress/singer/author Della Reese a minister in the 1980s; they became close friends. Barack Obama, then U.S. Senator, gave a Father’s Day address at CTU in 2005. For over 30 years, Johnnie owned and resided in the house at 5008 S. Greenwood Ave. in Hyde Park/Kenmore, on the same block as the Obamas.

Johnnie was widowed twice when Colemon and later her second husband died. She had no children, but people who grew up in her congregation became known as “Johnnie Colemon babies.” One famous person on this list is superstar and entrepreneur Kanye West, who lived in South Shore and attended Vanderpoel Magnet School in Beverly.

Johnnie was not without controversy. Some of her doctrines differed from traditional Christian teachings. For example, Johnnie taught that heaven and hell were not places, people created their own heaven or hell. She also was criticized because her “Better Living” philosophy encouraged material wealth, and some considered her lifestyle too lavish for a minister. Her response was that “It is God’s will that every individual on the face of this earth should live a healthy, happy, and prosperous life. God is my source of supply ….” She lived to age 94, and really, when compared to some of today’s ministers of megachurches and television ministries, her lifestyle was not that lavish. She had a car and driver, nice clothes, and a fine house in Hyde Park.

As a religious leader, a school today likely would not be named for her. But when she is considered as a person, she had the same traits that made other people, white and black, for whom schools were named, inspirational: a passion for and belief in what she was doing, determination, intelligence, and a willingness to help others. In addition, she had to combat racism and prejudice to succeed. She was a trailblazer in carving paths for other African American women to enter the ministry.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 6: John D. Shoop (1857- 1918)

This is sixth in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

John Daniel Shoop was Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools from 1915 to 1918. He was a highly regarded educator and administrator. His history is closely linked to that of Ella Flagg Young (1845-1918), the first woman elected as Superintendent of Chicago schools.

Shoop was born on a farm in Ohio. He attended the Indiana Normal University (“normal” schools trained teachers in the “norms” or standards for how to educate children) and the University of Chicago. He served as superintendent of schools in Gibson City, IL, from 1890 to 1896, and then in Paris, IL. In 1901, he moved to Chicago with his wife Jennie and their two sons to become the principal of a public school.

Shoop established himself quickly in Chicago. He had excellent public speaking skills and loved to recite poetry. He was a frequent and popular guest speaker, often quoted in the newspapers. Two examples of his views are attached to this post. He was made chief of “vacation schools” in 1908. These were summer programs, mainly for poorer inner-city children, designed to provide educational and recreational activities during the summer months.

In 1909, the Chicago Board of Education (CBOE) was tasked with electing a new Superintendent of schools. Candidates included Shoop and several other men, and Ella Flagg Young. Shoop was considered by many as the front runner. Then the Board made a surprising and historic decision; they elected Young as the Superintendent, the first woman to advance to this position. Shoop was elected as the Assistant Superintendent.

If any woman was going to break through the “glass ceiling” of the CBOE, Ella Flagg Young had the qualifications. She was recognized as a brilliant and progressive educator and had many supporters in the public arena as well as the education field. She had a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and was now a professor there. She had been a district superintendent and she was currently principal of the Chicago Normal School.

Shoop embraced his duties as Assistant Superintendent. He dealt with many of the everyday issues of running the schools. He was an advocate of industrial/vocational training. He worked with city businesses to develop paid work/school programs for children forced by economic necessity to quit school to go to work. (Note: The U.S. Census showed that between 1890 and 1910, at least 18% of children in the U.S. ages 10 to 15 worked. There were cases of children as young as 5 years old working in factories or in “street trades” like selling newspapers.)

Shoop helped bring the new Boy Scouts of America organization to Chicago. And he was no stranger to the Ridge. In 1912, he spoke at the graduation exercises at Morgan Park Academy.

For three years, Young and Shoop were unanimously re-elected to their positions. Then in 1913, without warning, school board directors who were against Young managed to gather enough votes to remove her from the Superintendent position. They accused her of mismanagement of funds and making the school system inefficient. They called into question her integrity and competence. Realizing she did not have the support to continue, Young resigned. The Board elected Shoop to the Superintendent position. Stating publicly that he was surprised and had no knowledge of the plans leading up to this, Shoop accepted the promotion.

Young’s numerous supporters, largely concentrated in the powerful women’s clubs of the day, were outraged by the Board’s decision and treatment of Young. Their call for Shoop’s resignation and Young’s reinstatement was supported by the legendary Jane Addams of Hull House and many other leaders. The teachers of the city strongly supported Young and “hinted” they would strike if she were not reinstated.

Witnesses came forward stating that Shoop had been informed of what the Board planned before it happened, but he continued to deny this. He had his supporters also, making for intense debates.

Mayor Carter Harrison Jr. had appointed five of the directors who led the campaign against Young. He declared himself “betrayed” by their actions. When he appointed them two years previously, he had them all write letters of resignation he could invoke at any time. When they refused to voluntarily step down, he used those letters to declare them “resigned.” He then appointed new directors who supported Young.

Young was asked if she was willing to return if voted back in. She replied she would return if Shoop resigned. Shoop refused to do so.

On Christmas Eve, 1913, the Board voted Young back in as Superintendent and Shoop back in as Assistant. Shoop and the ousted directors said they would seek legal advice. They all took Christmas Day off from political maneuvering, then after Christmas, Shoop surprised everyone by announcing he would accept the new Board decision. He said the good of the school system was more important than his position.

Young and Shoop, both dedicated professionals, met a few days later, resolved their differences, and went back to work. The next year they were once again re-elected unanimously to their positions.

In 1915, Young announced she would not seek re-election as Superintendent, allowing Shoop to finally move into the position. The night of Shoop’s election, Young quietly boarded a train for California. She died in the 1918 influenza epidemic.

As Superintendent, Shoop dealt with many issues, but his term was largely dominated by World War I. He strongly supported establishing military training programs for boys in the schools. He had the “household science” teachers become certified in dietetics (nutrition therapy) by the Red Cross so they could teach the subject to high-school girls. He allocated funds to establish “victory gardens” at any school with a patch of land for the students to farm.

He continued to work closely with business and industry to find training and employment opportunities for high school students. One example was downtown stores training and paying girls to learn sales skills. A number of schools advertised work/study programs for boys.

Shoop was seriously injured in an automobile accident in August 1916 while visiting friends in Paris, IL. He was thrown from the car and knocked unconscious, breaking his collar bone and seven ribs. He had a long, painful recovery.

During his recovery, he had to deal with a scandal on the Ridge. Morgan Park was annexed to the city in 1914 so all the schools were now under his supervision. The principal of Morgan Park High School, John Henry Heil, was accused of sending “poison pen” letters to a woman. Shoop really had little choice but to fire Heil and appoint a new principal. Heil was eventually exonerated but by then his career was ruined. (Note: This is a story we will cover in detail another day.)

In early August 1918, the Illinois Assistant State’s Attorney began investigating irregularities in the school census conducted in 1916 under Shoop’s direction. Allegations included padding the census to receive more money from the state, and filling the census taker positions, paid for by the CBOE, with campaign workers for Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson. Shoop was ordered to turn over all files from the Superintendent’s office that related to the census. He agreed to do so but dragged his feet.

Shoop was in Indiana for a public speaking engagement on August 9 when two policemen set up camp in his office. It was assumed by Shoop’s staff they were waiting for Shoop to return and produce the files.

And then on that same day, while waiting for his ride in the hotel lobby in Indiana, John Shoop died of a heart attack at the age 61.

Shock waves went through the communities that knew Shoop. His remains were brought back to Chicago. He lay in state in the Chicago Normal School rotunda, then followed a funeral service attended by thousands of people. His family took him back to Ohio for burial.

The Assistant State’s Attorney Office declared it would continue investigating the census but that Shoop himself had not been involved in any wrongdoing.

Shoop was remembered for “giving to every boy and girl the maximum of opportunity.” He was remembered for “never losing sight that the children were the chief factor” in the education system.

The new John D. Shoop school at 11140 S. Bishop Street opened in 1926.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 7: Annie Keller (1901 – 1927)

This is the seventh profile in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

Anna Louise Russell Keller was a young teacher who lived downstate and became a hero. Although she never lived in Chicago, her story was so compelling it earned her a school named in her honor, at 3020 West 108th Street.

“Annie,” as she was known, was born in Greene County, IL, on October 31, 1901. Greene County is in the west central part of the state, just north of the St. Louis area. Her mother’s family, Russell, was a pioneer family in that community. Annie attended Illinois State Normal University with her younger sister Mary, and both became teachers.

In 1927, Annie was in her third year of teaching in Centerville, a town in Greene County. She was the only teacher in a one-room brick and wood schoolhouse built in 1848 that still used an old coal stove for heat. The building was described as weather-beaten and “growing feeble,” with cracks in the walls. Still, it had always been sturdy enough to withstand Midwestern weather, and had served many generations of the local community. There were 21 students in the school then, at various grade levels; the oldest student was 15, the youngest, 6.

On April 19, at noontime, there was a severe rain and hail storm, so Annie and the students had to eat their lunches inside. Three of the students ran home for lunch.

A woman who was a 9-year-old student at the school that day recounted forty years later what happened next: “We were all standing at the window. Suddenly there was a lull in the storm and the sky turned black. The wind was getting stronger and stronger. We could see debris flying across the fields. The coal shed next to the school was blown away, and we realized we were in for a tornado.”

With only a few seconds to think, Annie ordered the class to flatten themselves on the floor under their desks. She grabbed the little ones who were too frightened to act and pushed them down.

The students had just gotten to safety and Annie was still by the door when the roof of the schoolhouse was blown off and the school collapsed. Annie was hit by the timber doorframe as it fell.

Another student, then 12, remembered seeing Annie get hit, and called out to her, but there was no response. Then the student was buried by falling bricks and glass as were most of the other students.

Those few students who were not buried frantically started to dig out their classmates. Three farmers who had been working in the fields nearby and witnessed the disaster rushed to the school. One of them was Howard Hobson, Annie’s fiancé. They came across a scene of chaos and devastation, with terrified students screaming and buried in the rubble.

Miraculously, all of the students survived, and there were only minor injuries. Thanks to Annie’s quick thinking, the desks had shielded the children from the worst of the destruction.

Annie’s body was found buried in the debris. Her neck had been broken by the collapsing timber. She was 25 years old.

In 2002, one of the last living students, then age 83, said, “Miss Keller was a wonderful teacher. We respected her and always obeyed her. It hurt us badly that she was killed. I think she saved us all.”

Annie’s funeral two days later was the largest the town had ever seen, attended by over 1,000 people crowding in and around the little Methodist church in White Hall, her hometown in Greene County. A truck was needed to transport all the floral displays people sent.

The papers of the day reported that the tornado had crossed the Mississippi river from Missouri and ripped a path through central Illinois, leaving at least 21 people dead and over 120 injured, and causing over a million dollars in damage. The injured were brought by train to the hospitals in Springfield and other larger towns. Greene County was hit the hardest, right where Annie’s school was.

Within days of the Annie’s death, two memorials were planned. A tablet was to be erected In Carrollton, the county seat, near where the school had been located. In White Hall, the historical society announced plans to raise funds to erect a monument at the public park.

Funds were raised by the schools of Illinois to provide the memorial. Students donated their pennies and the money was sent to Francis G. Blair, the state superintendent of schools, in Springfield. When they raised $5,000, they began a search for an artist to create the memorial.

Famous sculptor Lorado Taft contacted them. At the time, he was an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was interested in the project and offered his services for a greatly reduced fee, and of course they accepted. The memorial originally was to be made of bronze, but Taft decided he wanted to work in Tennessee pink marble instead. The $5,000 did not cover the cost of the marble, so Taft paid the difference himself.

In January of 1929, Mary Keller, Annie’s sister, and a friend, traveled to Chicago to meet with Taft. They were joined by Blair, who also had become personally committed to the project. Mary posed as the model, and Taft also worked from photos of Annie. Mary visited a second time, and reported she was pleased with the sculpture, a bust of Annie with one arm around a boy student and the other arm hugging a small girt student close to her.

Over 3000 people attended the dedication of the monument in August 1929. Her students made a human chain around the monument and laid roses at the base. Superintendent Blair was the host for the event, and a highlight was Taft’s attendance and speech. Said Taft: “There is no more beautiful story than that told in the life and death of Miss Keller. I rejoice in my profession that makes possible this memorial to her if it becomes an inspiration to others.”

People that knew Annie during her brief life described her as a talkative, jolly, light-hearted person, and a good teacher. She was always doing something for someone else. She was not a flashy person. She was an average girl from an average small town who became an average teacher and never had a chance to distinguish herself. She would never have thought of herself as a hero. But when the emergency came, it took her less than 10 seconds to prove herself. She rose to the occasion.

The Illinois State Senate passed a resolution paying honor to Annie’s heroism. A copy of that resolution is attached.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 8: Marcus Garvey

This is the eighth profile in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. (1887-1940) was a political activist, journalist, and businessman born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. He lived for over a decade in the United States. Although during his lifetime his viewpoints were considered controversial, with time his encouragement of pride and self-worth for people of African descent influenced African American leaders and movements. Some have called him the “Father of African Nationalism.”

Garvey’s entire history is too involved to cover in a Facebook post. There are many sources of information about him online that readers are encouraged to investigate.

From an early age on, Garvey’s experiences with social and economic hierarchies based on color led him to become an advocate for improving the status of people of African origin. His belief was that the initiative had to come from within the African community itself.

In 1914, Garvey started an organization called the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). He moved to the U.S. in 1916 and started a UNIA branch in Harlem in New York City. He attracted attention through a campaign of public speaking. A self-taught man, he was an accomplished orator and writer.

Garvey believed strongly in the equality and separation of the races, and in racial purity. He called for ending the European colonial rule in Africa and uniting that continent as one country. He named himself the Provisional President of Africa. Believing that African descendants would never achieve equality in any country ruled by whites, such as the U.S., he encouraged all educated and skilled people of pure African blood to move to Liberia, Africa. He was a capitalist and spoke against socialism. He believed blacks needed to start their own businesses to establish financial independence from whites. He insisted “Negro” be capitalized as a sign of respect and dignity.

Although he established a loyal following, his separatist views were at direct odds with most African American leaders of the day, including W. E. B. DuBois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who were working for integration into American society. They were outraged when Garvey embraced the Ku Klux Klan to advance the segregation of the races. Garvey thanked the Klan for Jim Crow laws because they kept the races apart.

Garvey was outspoken against those who did not agree with him, and they responded in kind. He was derogatory of everyday people of color and he shunned people of mixed races. He made enemies and had many detractors.

In 1919, Garvey started a shipping and passenger company called the Black Star Line with the idea of fostering commerce between Africa and America and facilitating migration to Liberia. Garvey never visited Africa and knew little about life there. Liberia rejected his attempts to establish a settlement.

In 1923, Garvey was convicted of mail fraud for the way he was selling the company’s stock. Losing on appeal, he was sent to prison in 1925 in Atlanta for several years. Upon his release from prison, he was deported to Jamaica. He continued his activism there, again gaining followers and enemies. In 1935 he moved to London, where he died in 1940.

Garvey made one documented trip to Chicago, in October of 1919, and that did not go well. He was arrested for selling stock in the Black Star Line without being registered in the state. In addition, he had an acrimonious relationship with the Chicago Defender, one of the most important and influential African American newspapers in the country.

The Chicago Defender and its publisher, Robert Abbott, and Garvey and his newspaper, the Negro World, regularly traded insults and libel suits. The Defender called Garvey a “rabid agitator” and a “deluded megalomaniac;” Garvey labelled the Defender as traitorous to the Negro Race. The Defender showed no sympathy when Garvey was taken to prison in February of 1925.

But then a shift in the Defender’s opinion of Garvey started to occur. In November 1927, the paper called for Garvey’s release from prison, stating he had served long enough for what was really just “idealism and far-fetched dreaming.” The Defender led the campaign to free him, and Garvey was released in December.

Wrote the Defender: “What if his effort to build the Black Star Steamship line was a miserable failure? What if the provisional government of Africa was the wildest dream imaginable? Do these facts remove the one that Marcus Garvey stirred his people as they have never been stirred before? The Defender believes he was well worth the saving.”

Thus began the focus on the broader implications of Marcus Garvey’s contributions. After his death, his status as an advocate grew. In 1964, his remains were returned to Jamaica and buried with a ceremony worthy of a national hero.

African American and world leaders have acknowledged they were influenced by Garvey. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited his tomb in 1965 and said: "Marcus Garvey was the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny, and make the Negro feel he was somebody."

In 1974, it was announced that the new Chicago public school at 10309 S. Morgan Street in Washington Heights would be named for Marcus Garvey. This ended a three-year battle over the name of the school.

The residents of the community the school would serve, primarily African Americans, had been asked to submit potential names, and they submitted several, including Marcus Garvey. All of the names were rejected. This happened twice, and then they decided to rally for Garvey’s name.

The School Board maintained that Garvey was not appropriate because he was a separatist and had been in jail, and this would not be a good example for the children. The community leaders’ response was that they had the right to pick their own heroes. Garvey was the first real global activist for black pride, solidarity, and power, and therefore a worthy model. Naming a school for a person did not mean agreement with all his beliefs. The Chicago Defender supported the community’s choice.

The School Board finally voted narrowly in favor of the name. The Chicago Defender declared this victory a fitting legacy for Marcus Garvey.