“It’s a retrospective. It’s a look back at an era in which we were more interested in the development of the group than the individual,” said Rami. “You saw the proliferation of organizations like the African American Patrolmen’s League, the Black psychologists.
When Maséqua and I met, I had already begun working with Jim Harvey on opening the Umoja Black Student Center at 251 East Thirty-Ninth Street, directly across from Wendell Phillips High School. By the early '70s, AfroAmerican student movements were springing to life everywhere—on campuses, in high schools, and in communities. Students were affirming new demands and priorities.
The Umoja Black Student Center reflected this multicultural programming. It was the home for African American teens and adults in Chicago trying to find themselves. Broadcast veteran Harold Lee Rush, one of the student leaders at Englewood during that time, became a good friend and joined my acting group.
The conference theme was"Black self-determination and unity through direct action." Attendees included Max Stanford, Queen Mother Moore, Maulana Karenga, Amiri Baraka, Jesse Jackson, Whitney Young, Nathan Hare, John Conyers, and Rosa Parks, to name a few. We organized ten workshops around politics, education, culture, history, economics, reparations, Black women community organizing, religion, communication, and education.
Is it February ALREADY?