REGISTRATION IS LIMITED AND PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
****Pre-register by mail using the printable registration form found here. ****

Preliminary Program

This is a Call for a three-part project consisting of a national conference, archive, documentation and resource center on the origins and the development of the Chicago Area Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (CAFSNCC) and its pivotal role in the Chicago civil rights movement between 1960 -1965. The Chicago Area Friends of SNCC was originally founded as a support organization for the southern student sit in movement. However, injustices such as discrimination in employment, segregation in housing and schools, an antiquated, bureaucratic school system unresponsive to the educational needs of Blacks and other minorities, disenfranchisement of Black voters by an exclusionary political machine soon transformed the organization into an activist one. CAFSNCC worked to make Black politicians more responsive to their communities, encouraged and supported independent Black candidates for office and perhaps most importantly orchestrated the campaign against the then Superintendent of Schools, Ben Willis, and his segregationist policies. The Chicago Civil Rights Movement had its origins in Black struggles for equality dating back to the 19th century. Between 1960 - 1965, as a result of its programs, alliances with local community groups and organizing, CAFSNCC was catapulted into the leadership of this movement.

This important Chicago story has not been told. Yet, this history laid the basis for later events such as the election of Chicago's first Black mayor, Harold Washington, and many other people's victories. Many of those victories are being eroded and the social justice goals of the movement subverted. One of the primary goals of this project is to provide current and future generations with the knowledge of the significance of the contemporary Civil Rights Movement in building democracy in Chicago, the United States and in the international struggle for social justice.

If you were a part of or want to know more about this important period in the history of this country, please contact us at frushing@ben.edu or (630) 829-6248. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was unique in its commitment to participatory democracy within the organization and to identifying and working with "local" people already engaged in local struggles. CAFSNCC operated from these same premises. Therefore, this is not a project about leaders. It is a project designed to tell your stories that should be known and must be preserved so that future generations will know the true power of the people in making social change.

Please submit our online Volunteer Information Form. After submitting the Information Form you will be directed to the printable Conference Registration Form. Access the Information Form here.

Organizing Committee

Fannie Theresa Rushing, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Benedictine University, CAFSNCC, SNCC
Sylvia Fischer, Co Chairperson CAFSNCC
Lorne Cress - Love, CAFSNCC, SNCC
Ron Dorfmann, CAFSNCC
Bennett Johnson, Vice President, Third World Press, CAFSNCC
Don Rose
Marcia Rothenberg
Mimi Shaw - Hayes, CAFSNCC, SNCC

Co Sponsored by Roosevelt University,
Chicago, Illinois

Honorary Co Chairs

Honorable Abner Mikva
Attorney James Montgomery
Diane Nash
Studs Terkel

Community Supporters

Center for Cultural Understanding and Change/Field Museum
Saint Pius V Catholic Church

Advisory Committee (In Formation)

Bernice Bild
Dr. Sydney Bild
Heather Booth
Paul Booth
Professor Timuel D. Black
Honorable Leon Despres
Ivanhoe Donaldson
Reverend A. I. Dunlap
Earl Durham
Barbara Fischer
Kathy Fischer
Attorney Aviva Futorian
Roberta Galler
Brenetta Howell - Barrett
Rose M. Jennings
Attorney Lawrence Kennon
Dr. Alfred Klinger
Dr. Joyce Lashof
Honorable John Lewis
Lucy Jean Lewis
Bob Lucas
Father Daniel Mallette, Pastor, Saint Margaret of Scotland Church
Attorney Richard Morrisroe
Curtis Muhammad (Hayes)
Hollis Muhammad (Watkins)
Dr. Cheryl Johnson Odim, Dean, Columbia College
Mildred Page
State Senator Alice Palmer
Dr. Charles Payne, Professor of Sociology, Director of African American Studies, Duke University
Reverend Doctor Michael Pfleger, Pastor, Community of Saint Sabina
Dr. Barbara Ransby, African American Studies & History, University of Illinois
Dr. Christopher Reed, Professor, Chair Department of History, Roosevelt University
Mary Rogers
Don Rose
Brother Wali Siddiq
Rosie Simpson
Phil Smith
Professor Robert Starks, Northeastern University, Center for Inner City Studies
James Wagner
Bernice Weissbourd
Reverend Doctor Jeremiah Wright, Pastor , Trinity, United Church of Christ
Dr. Quentin Young

Memoriam

Wayne Yancy, CAFSNCC, Mississippi Summer Project
Lawrence Landry, Executive Director, CAFSNCC
Nahaz Rogers, CAFSNCC
David Llorens, CAFSNCC, SNCC
John Buffington, CAFSNCC, SNCC
Nancy Jefferson
Faith Rich
Irene Turner
Charles Fischer, Executive Committee, CAFSNCC
Lucy Montgomery, CAFSNCC
Ralph Rapaport, CAFSNCC, SNCC
Ida M. Cress
Mildred Shaw. CAFSNCC
State Senator, Richard Newhouse
James Forman, CoFounder, CAFSNCC, Executive Secretary, SNCC