Chilly neighborhood reception greets Mount Greenwood Seven at elementary school they integrated 40 years ago
It has been 40 years since a group of seven black eighth graders were the first African Americans to attend Mount Greenwood Elementary School.
Although four decades have gone by, the racial intolerance that drove residents in the Irish-Catholic enclave to picket for six months -- in rain, sleet, and snow -- until the blacks students graduated, was still evident on Sunday when they returned to the school to take a photograph.
"The first thing that struck us was there was a swastika on the bottom of the assembly hall door," said Toni Lewis Anderson.
A Chicago Public Schools spokesman confirmed that school administrators discovered the swastika on the school's assembly hall door sometime on Monday while they were making their rounds.
"It has already been removed," the spokesman said. "We will work with whatever authorities that are appropriate to find out who did this."
Anderson said that as soon as the group arrived at the school on Sunday, several white men who were sitting in front of a house across from the school began to verbally harass them.
"How would you like it if we would go to an all-black school in the black community and took pictures of gang signs,'' one of the guys allegedly shouted, while giving them the finger. "Go back to your own neighborhood."
"It was deja vu," Anderson said. "It was a nightmare."
The story of the group's historic reunion appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday. After a brunch at Blu 47, the group went to Mount Greenwood Elementary School at 10841 S. Homan to take a photograph.
It was the first time they had been back to the school in 40 years. In fact, after the group graduated, it took 10 years for another black student to enroll there.
"We wanted closure. But as soon as we got out of our cars, the men threatened to call the police and began yelling at us," Anderson said.
Besides Anderson, the other members of the Mount Greenwood Seven are Omar Hester, Deborah Hunter- Russell, Adrienne Shumac-Thompson, Janis Weatherall-Clark, Nancy Ward Wysinger and Steven Palmore.
Although the group managed to take a photo, Hunter-Russell was too upset by the hecklers to get out of her car.
"I was probably in this neighborhood before they were living in that house," said Palmore, who is a jazz musician who now lives in Queens, N.Y.
"It is a shame that Mount Greenwood is the same racially intolerant enclave that we remember."
In 1968, the year the Mount Greenwood Seven integrated the elementary school, the neighborhood was 99.9 percent white. By 2000, the area -- which is home to a lot of Chicago Police officers and firefighters -- was 93.5 percent white, 3 percent black, and 3 percent Hispanic.
"I can't believe that 40 years later, things have not changed," Anderson said. "They were still telling us to get out of their community, out of their school, and we were not bothering anybody. We were there because of our own memories."
Obviously, what happened on Sunday doesn't compare to the chaos they lived through in 1968, when Chicago Police officers had to escort them to and from school.
Now accomplished professionals who have made their homes as far away as Amsterdam, the group was appalled that little appears to have changed in Chicago.
But the behavior of neighborhood racists shouldn't reflect the values of an entire white community any more than the criminal behavior of thugs should reflect the values of the black community.
Indeed, 40 years ago, it not only took the courage of the Mount Greenwood Seven to break down racial barriers, but the courage of people like Eleanor Sneigowski.
Sneigowski sent me this e-mail Monday:
"I had a daughter in kindergarten, and along with some friends, we counter-picketed the hateful people who were causing the problems," she said.
"We, too, had names called and witnessed mothers spitting on us. We, too, walked with strollers and with little children by our sides to support choices in education --since our school had empty desks. We were ashamed of what was happening and didn't want the actions of some to indicate that everyone in Mount Greenwood felt the same," she said.
What happened in Mount Greenwood on Sunday shows that when it comes to racial tolerance, we still have a long way to go.
Live Chat with Mary Mitchell at 3:00 P.M. Tuesday
Mary Mitchell is a columnist for the 
You're article as usual is very biased and misinforms its readers. Mt. Greenwood doesn't have drug dealers on every street corner or a drive-by shooting every week like you're neighborhood. Keep spreading the hate. Good Luck
I think I'll try to go back to the Pullman area with my 2 brothers - we'll be the "Pullman 3" (love those catchy names). We grew up there in the 60s.
I'll just have to make sure my will is in order before I go...
Greetings,
As an African-American Father of two daughters who graduated and currently attend Mt. Greenwood Elementary school I am appalled at the behavior of the few individuals that were alegedly accross the street from the school when the first African-American trailblazers of the school had revisited after graduating over 40years ago. It shows that racial ignorance of some people has not change with time.
It's ironic that this past week, I've been viewing, over the course of several days, "America Beyond The Color Line." Some of the accounts and recollections brought tears to my eyes, to hear that in 2008, in Chicago, these CPS alumni would be greeted with such animosity and disdain, is shameful. Kudos to the Mt. Greenwood Seven for bravely revisiting the site of their youth. A place where they were persecuted but still managed to succeed.
Ms. Mitchell,
I grew up in Mt. Greenwood. My parents were not racists, and they taught me to reject racism. They moved to Mt. Greenwood in 1952 because they could not afford to live in South Shore. Later on, as racial turmoil grew on the south side, a lot of racists moved to Mt. Greenwood.
In 1968 I was a junior in high school. I remember walking to church telling a friend how much I disagreed with the protesters. A man in front of us started yelling at me on the street. I was disappointed that the priests at St.Christina's did not do more to stop the protesters. One time I heard a priest tell the people to "mind their own business." That was all.
In 1969 I went away to college. In 1971 I met my husband. We were both from the south side, born just 5 days apart at the same hospital. He went to the same high school as my father. We had a lot in common, but he was black and I was white. We couldn't get married at St. Christina's. The priest was afraid that the neighbors would "break the stained glass windows." We got married downstate near where we went to school.
We have been married for 35 years. We have 3 great kids and 2 grandchildren. We are still in love. We live in Kenwood, a world away from Mt. Greenwood.
One reason that Mt. Greenwood stays racist is that the non-racists move away. So do the college graduates and the people that become professionals. The houses are small. Those with more money and more education go elsewhere.
To be fair, the crime is low and the schools are good in Mt. Greenwood. The people value hard work. My mother lived there for 45 years. The neighbors took care of each other. It is unfortunate that in protecting their culture, the people feel the need to hate people who don't look like them.
Congrats to the individuals who came to take the picture to celebrate an historic moment. What a terrible tarnish to a great event to have ignorant individuals across the street yell insensitive and intolerable words at these men and women. We all should be celebrating this wonderful achievement in our cities history. Instead a select group of individuals spend all there time and energy doing more harm then good. I know these individuals do not represent the many respectable and compassionate people of Mount Greenwood, many of which are friends of mine. Thanks