PAST events
Date & Time
Thursday, January 31
6—7:30pm
Location
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
800 South Halsted Street
About
Join us for a panel discussion with Beryl Satter, author of "Family Properties" and history professor at Rutgers University; Clyde Ross, North Lawndale resident and former CBL co-chairman; and Jack Macnamara, community activist and CBL organizer. They will discuss the efforts and legacy of the Contract Buyers League, a collective of black Chicago homeowners which originated in North Lawndale in the 1960s to protest exploitative contract selling.
The Contract Buyers League (CBL) consisted of working class African Americans in search of available housing due to the overpopulation of the black-belt on Chicago's south side. In many racially transitioning neighborhoods, like North Lawndale, federally insured mortgages were unavailable, which left no other option than contract buying as a home purchasing method. CBL took action against the unfair contract sales by picketing and pamphleteering at the offices and homes of sellers, collectively withholding payments, filing a series of federal lawsuits, and resisting eviction efforts. While achieving renegotiation at a fair price was the main goal, quite possibly, the greatest result of the CBL was the unification and empowerment of the community and the lifelong impact that had on individuals involved in the CBL.
________________________________________________________________________________
* All views expressed are those of the guests and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, or the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Architecture and the Arts.