Peoria
A digital companion to the biography
Becoming Richard Pryor
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Peoria: An Introduction
North Washington Street
The Famous Door
The Carver Center
Harold’s Club
Collins Corner
The Murray-Baker Bridge
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1919–1941: “Roarin’ Peoria”
1942–1945: WWII Comes to Peoria
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1963–1969: Civil Rights Hits Peoria
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Documents Tagged ‘1960s: Civil Rights’
School Desegregation in Peoria, Illinois
Archive Entry Date: 06/1977
The US Commission on Civil Rights examined why a busing program hadn't alleviated segregation in Peoria's schools
Civil Rights Movement: Where Has Peoria Been?
Archive Entry Date: 05/12/1974
Twenty years after Brown v. Board of Education, the Journal Star examined the arc of the city's Civil Rights Movement
Panther Clark Expected Death, Sister Reveals
Archive Entry Date: 12/29/1969
An obituary for Mark Clark — a Peorian Black Panther killed alongside Fred Hampton in a pre-dawn raid by Chicago police in 1969
Malcolm X Asks: “Who Will Help Mend America?”
Archive Entry Date: 1969
Juliette Whittaker's Civil Rights fresco
B.U. Statement Sound
Archive Entry Date: 03/10/1969
Three days later an editorial praised Bradley's “Statement of Principles” for enforcing the civil rights of all races
Richard Pryor Returns To Peoria Stage
Archive Entry Date: 03/09/1969
A benefit for the local Afro-American Black Peoples Federation brought Richard Pryor back to the Carver Center stage
Campbell Pledges Blacks in Building Trades Soon
Archive Entry Date: 03/09/1969
An “open society” in Peoria was the goal of the Tri-County Urban League's annual seven-part statement
No Union Men Attend Rights Group Meeting
Archive Entry Date: 03/08/1969
White-dominated construction unions were no-shows at a meeting to integrate building trades
BU Establishes Black Culture House, Sets Afro Degree Plan
Archive Entry Date: 03/07/1969
Protests by Bradley University's Black Student Alliance resulted in two new academic institutions
Meeting Dates Set For Police-Community Talks
Archive Entry Date: 03/05/1969
To allay black mistrust of Peoria's police, city leaders planned three-day retreats with blacks, police, and businessmen
‘Together In Peoria’
Archive Entry Date: 02/29/1969
Businessmen in Peoria showed a growing concern for race relations with an $85,000 pledge to Project TIP
School Protests Suspended For Week
Archive Entry Date: 11/15/1967
After approximately 6,200 total student absences, student demonstrators paused to regroup
120 Negro Students, Suspended Yesterday, Barred
Archive Entry Date: 11/10/1967
120 Manual High School students were barred from returning to class the day after the mass walk-out
200 Students Walk Out in Protest March
Archive Entry Date: 11/09/1967
Teens in the NAACP staged a walk-out to protest inadequate conditions at their school
6 Jailed For Disorderly Conduct
Archive Entry Date: 07/21/1966
The NAACP pressured for school reform with another sit-in — and six were arrested
School Board Agrees To Meet After Singing Sit-In
Archive Entry Date: 07/19/1966
The NAACP staged a singing sit-in to press for changes in school curriculum and employment practices
Fire Bomb Tossed Through Window Of Rehm Barber Shop
Archive Entry Date: 11/23/1964
A barbershop where blacks had been refused service was struck with a Molotov cocktail
Negro Heroes In Peoria
Archive Entry Date: 11/17/1964
The Peoria Journal Star saluted those black Peorians who had entered the middle class
Black Peorians Dropout in Alarming Numbers
Archive Entry Date: 11/2/1964
By November 1964, a 77% high school dropout rate beset black Peoria - higher than Chicago and Springfield.
Call Inter-Racial Visits Big Success
Archive Entry Date: 10/28/1963
Over 200 people hosted integrated parties for Peoria's Inter-racial Home Visitation Day
Negro Effect on Property Put To Test
Archive Entry Date: 08/07/1963
A newspaper investigation found property values rarely dropped when a “colored family” moved in
‘No Racial Tension Here,’ Says Mayor
Archive Entry Date: 06/21/1963
Black Peorians were staging a bus boycott, but Peoria's Mayor claimed there was “no racial tension here”
The Friendship Tea
Archive Entry Date: 06/13/1962
Juliette Whittaker was among the ladylike faces of this Peorian Civil Rights initiative
Inter-Racial Committee Pickets 6 Restaurants
Archive Entry Date: 06/15/1946
Restaurant managers boasted defiantly of improved sales after Bradley University's CORE chapter picketed their establishments
Letter from Hazel Pritcher to George Houser
Archive Entry Date: 06/03/1946
CORE broadened its fight for racial justice by taking on a high school's staging of a blackface minstrel show
Letter from Dick Trotter to George Houser
Archive Entry Date: 07/21/1945
Its membership growing, Peoria's CORE aimed to desegregate public pools as well as local restaurants