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Featured image for “Exclusion: Sycamore’s Racially Restrictive Covenants”

Exclusion: Sycamore’s Racially Restrictive Covenants

There is evidence of several racial covenants in Sycamore. The Fox Subdivision was created...

Featured image for “Fear: Sycamore, local push back to Klan rhetoric”

Fear: Sycamore, local push back to Klan rhetoric

Despite the numerous articles about Klan activity throughout DeKalb County, there is evidence that people...

Featured image for “Community: Caldwell family, Shabbona”

Community: Caldwell family, Shabbona

Above image: Shabbona Grove School, 1921. Photo courtesy Shabbona-Lee-Rollo Historical Society. The Caldwell family story...

Featured image for “Community: Overview”

Community: Overview

In their anthology, Four Hundred Souls, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain write about...

Featured image for “Hope: Black Resort Community in Kirkland”

Hope: Black Resort Community in Kirkland

Three newspaper articles cover a story about how a group of wealthy Blacks from St....

Featured image for “Hope: Securing a Bank Loan”

Hope: Securing a Bank Loan

There are two examples of the local bank, The National Bank & Trust Company, working...

Featured image for “Exclusion: Racial Covenants, Sycamore”

Exclusion: Racial Covenants, Sycamore

There is evidence of racial covenants in Sycamore. The Fox Subdivision was created in 1927....

Featured image for “Exclusion: Redlining and Racial Covenants, DeKalb”

Exclusion: Redlining and Racial Covenants, DeKalb

The second generation of Ellwoods included a racial covenant in the Ellfield Addition, which was...

Featured image for “Hope: Mexicans at Sycamore Preserve Works”

Hope: Mexicans at Sycamore Preserve Works

There are a few articles from the 1940s and 1950s about people from Mexico coming...