CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image: Martin Luther King, Jr.

This photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr., was likely taken at the Chicago Freedom Movement rally held at Soldier Field on July 10, 1966. King and other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had begun visiting Chicago in 1965 in an effort to expand the civil rights movement. The SCLC allied itself with the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), a Chicago-based group established to reform public school policy and endorse school integration, to launch the Chicago Freedom Movement and its campaign against housing discrimination.

A charter member of the CCCO, the Chicago Urban League (CUL) played an important role in the Chicago Freedom Movement, hosting strategy sessions at its South Side office. The Chicago chapter of the National Urban League, an African American social service organization, was founded in 1916 to address the needs of African Americans migrating from the rural South to northern cities in unprecedented numbers. Today, the CUL continues to advocate for social change through economic empowerment.

The Chicago Urban League Photos collection consists of 255 images documenting people and events related to the organization. The Chicago Urban League Records, containing materials pertaining to the history, leadership, activities, and social services of the CUL from 1916 to 2000, serves as the source collection for this digital collection.

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