Learning about segregated schools in the U.S. is part of the curriculum in the advanced placement African American studies course taught at Waukegan and New Trier high schools. When students from both schools got together for a joint class, they learned how local the issue was.
After Waukegan students journeyed to Winnetka in November, learning about redlining by banks to make it harder for Black people to get mortgages, New Trier students came to Waukegan in March for a class about the desegregation of Whittier Elementary School in the 1960s.
“That was something I thought was only about the South,” New Trier senior Anna Hill said.
“We learned how the people made a change in their community,” Alex Palmer, another New Trier senior, said.
African American studies students from Waukegan and New Trier held their second joint class of the academic year in March on the Waukegan High School Washington Campus, learning about school desegregation and renewing the ties they formed four months earlier.
Evelyn Gallardo, a Waukegan senior, said seeing the New Trier seniors again was like rekindling old friendships. The faces and the people were familiar. She liked familiarizing the guests with her home turf, including lunch from Big Ed’s BBQ.
“It was a lot more informal,” Gallardo said. “We knew each other and worked well together. We were more comfortable and interacted very well.”
Though both schools are old — New Trier and Waukegan were both built in the early 20th century, more than 100 years ago — New Trier senior Avery Reis said he liked getting a look at the city of Waukegan.
“We got a chance to see the town,” Reis said. “There are a lot of small businesses, local businesses.”
“At New Trier, we’re in a bubble,” added Cliff Noonan. “Talking to each other gave me a feeling of humility. They really have a pride in their community, and we could see it.”
Though they started with what Waukegan social studies teacher Clifford Turner called “speed dating,” where they spent less than a minute talking to each other as they moved from one student to another, Noonan said there were a lot of similarities among the teenagers.
“We had a lot in common, like music, favorite foods and that kind of stuff,” Noonan said.
Though the class in November was about the bank practice of redlining, this time Turner said learning about school desegregation was very local. In the early 1960s, Whittier had a disproportionately large Black enrollment while the surrounding elementary schools were predominantly white. The Blacks lived in an area known as Frog Island.
Turner said the students learned how the Whittier community pushed for a change of boundaries, the school board was unwilling and it took a 1966 Illinois Supreme Court decision to require integration of the Waukegan schools. Much of the information was new to the Waukegan students as well.
“I knew a little bit,” Gallardo said. “We got to see how effective a community can be, and it’s still a reality today. It was effective because of what the people did about it.”
For Karl Gurrier, a Waukegan senior who moved to the city from Haiti, a predominately Black country, with his family in 2021, the Whittier story was completely new. He was also impressed by the community effort.
“I felt like it was a significant achievement,” Gurrier said. “This shows what activism can do.”
Michael Christensen, a New Trier social studies teacher who leads the class there, said it was good to see the students interacting well as they renewed relationships from four months ago. There are very few schools in the area teaching advanced placement African American studies.
Christensen said she and Turner got the idea last summer to combine classes — once in Winnetka and again in Waukegan. It is a two-year-old, nationally recognized pilot program by the College Board. The students will soon take an advanced placement test with the chance to earn college credit.
Both Turner and Christensen hope they can expand the exchange next school year, and possibly include more schools. It is also taught at Evanston Township High School and Vernon Hills High School.
