On a brisk morning in 1962, photographers and reporters were beckoned to witness Mayor Richard J. Daley welcome the first resident of the Robert Taylor Homes. The complex, the world’s largest housing project, consisted of 28 nearly identical 16-story apartment buildings. Sold to newcomers as the promised land, the perfect way station for working families climbing up the ladder of American success, the buildings eventually became one of the world’s most segregated, dangerous places to live.
The fanfare and optimism that accompanied the opening of the project has met with despair and disappointment. Now, nearly 50 years later, that sad chapter of Chicago’s history comes to a close as the buildings come down, part of the current city plan to transform public housing.
As the last person moved out of the Robert Taylor Homes recently, the only spectators were Don Terry, Tribune photographer Abel Uribe and Beauty Turner, the subject of “The Beauty treatment,” our cover story this week.
As a reporter, Don has witnessed the story of public housing in Chicago for decades and has watched Beauty Turner navigate the system.
“I knew going in how dedicated Beauty was and how nice,” recalls Don. “For years, every time I ran into her at a protest against the war or a community meeting about affordable housing, she’d always greet me with a ‘Hey, love.’ “
What Don did not realize until he worked on this story, though, is how much Beauty Turner had overcome and how hard she works to be what she calls a “voice for the voiceless.”
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etaylor@tribune.com
