TAC History
Site Addendum
Developed August 2006 by Jettie M. West
The Collins High School TAC
History of the North Lawndale Community
The North Lawndale Community is an historic area in Chicago. It extends over an area of six square miles, stretching from Western Ave. on the East, to "The Belt Railroad" on the West, to the Eisenhower Expressway on the North and to Cermak Road on the South.
The Chicago fire of 1817 and the expansion of the railroad related industries brought an influx of settlers into the area.
The development of Douglas Park provided the area with its first major recreational attraction. Roosevelt Road was the main commercial street. Douglas and Independence Blvd. was lined with gray stone residential facilities and a number of Jewish institutions.
Mt. Sinai Hospital (now Medical Center) located at the corner of California Ave. and 15th St. opposite of Douglas Park also served as a vital institution for the community.
At the turn of the century, the community experienced an accelerated growth as the Douglas Park Branch EL trains extended its lines to the West. Major industries such as Western Electric, Ryerson Steel, Cinch Tool and Dye Co. made their home in North Lawndale and the most famous was Sears Roebuck (the first tower is still standing).
Between 1940 and 1950 blacks moved into the area and were 12% of the population. By the 1970's blacks were approximately 99% of the population. Several businesses were driven out due to the rioting after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968. Between 1970 and 1980 North Lawndale experienced a great economic loss, not only the loss of businesses, but many black professionals left the area as well. Shortly after that, Sears Roebuck relocated its corporate headquarters to the Sears Tower downtown. They closed the main retail store and catalog orders along with its massive warehouse.
History of Collins High School
In the 1960's, the community insisted that something had to be done about over-crowded schools in North Lawndale. In 1966 General Superintendent Benjamin Willis presented a proposal for the expansion of Farragut High School. This proposal would require a loss of existing housing. The community opposed the plan and continued to press for a new high school of its own in the North Lawndale area.
After many debates, community leaders and residents agreed that a new high school should be built in Douglas Park. In August of 1968 Dr. James Redmond (who replaced Dr. Willis as Superintendent) agreed that a new high school was needed. After a few more years, the Chicago Board of Education offered to build a small school for 1,500 students on eight acres of land rather than eleven point five acres for 3,000 students. The community originally rejected the idea because their original plan called for a comprehensive educational program with heavy emphasis on career development, which wasn't in this plan. The community eventually yielded and accepted the proposal.
The community leaders (especially three strong, dynamic women) knew if they were to make the school open, they would have the difficult challenge of mobilizing large numbers of residents on short notice. Fortunately, they met the challenge. The influence of these three women, known as the three B's: Rosie Betts, Geneva Bates, Nola Bright, reached out to the community and called upon Rev. Samuel Carter, James Cage, Lois Porter, Lorena Porter, Mary Harris, Mary Hill, Ma Fletcher, Al Rabbi, Grady C. Jordan, Ms. Deion Scott, Ben Kendrick and many others. They brought with them organizations such as American Boys Commonwealth., Boys Brotherhood Republic., Better Boys Foundation., African Peoples Alliance, members of St. Agatha Church, Lawndale Peoples Planning & Action Council, and Model Cities. They all spoke in favor of the Douglas Park site.
The Public Building Commission finally gave its approval. The ground breaking took place on March 19, 1975. The school in the park with no name was finally named George W Collins High School. The name was chosen in honor of Congressman George W. Collins, who had also been a long time resident of the North Lawndale Community who died in a plane crash near Midway airport in 1972.
Through the insistence of the community, Dr. Grady C. Jordan a community activist and an educator who had worked with Model Cities was chosen as Principal. After 11 years of struggle, the doors opened in September of 1976 like a mother with out stretched arms, the doors officially swung open to receive her children.
Dr. Grady C. Jordan and his hand picked staff, holds bragging rights to being the first members of the George W. Collins High School family. He wisely selected an administrative team that would reflect the community's efforts to bring quality education, nurturing and mentorship to the children of North Lawndale.
May of 1977 Collins hosted its official opening ceremony. A bust of George W. Collins was created by one of its own faculty members, Mr. Marvin Howard. It was unveiled at the ceremony where the guest speaker was none other than Congresswoman Cardiss Collins, the wife of the late Congressmen George W. Collins.
As time passed it was with unyielding determination to surpass the expectation of others and rise above the standards of many, to produce excellence in their endeavor of reaching new heights of achievements. Ms. Freddie Cooksey brought to Collins the idea of celebrating " Black History Alive". During the Month of Febuary, the children were exposed to history in the making. They invited graduates to attend Collins Career Day, serving as motivational speakers and mentors, a triumph of the spirit celebrating black achievement. Collins Afro Club presented the community with such original stage plays that reminds us that "life ain't no crystal stair".
Collins had the best faculty and staff you could imagine because they were all committed to the motto "Excellence is our Goal". From the principal to the janitorial staff, they always remembered that George W. Collins is a family.
The philosophy of George W. Collins has been educating the whole child by addressing the special needs of the North Lawndale youth, which is reducing the deficiencies in the "three R's", developing pride and confidence in self, renewing of interest in and the respect for school and community, developing marketing skills for industry, raising hopes and aspirations, developing esthetics, morals, values and family responsibilities. Collins knows that meeting these needs is paramount for survival and producing life-long sufficient adults capable of making positive contributions to society as a whole.
In 1985 Dr. Grady C. Jordan advanced his career, leaving to serve as High School District Superintendent. He was replaced by Mr. Willie Bond from Crown Elementary School. Mr. Bond, also a longtime figure in the North Lawndale community embarked upon the scene with his own plans and desires to see Collins succeed.
In 1991 the LSC voted for Mr. Clement Smith as Principal of Collins High School. Mr. Smith chose as his Assistant Principal, Ms. Learna J. Brewer the Instructional Coordinator. Together they teamed up and stepped up their efforts to bring to Collins a renewed spirit and develop innovative programs.
One such program was the brainstorm of the Assistant Principal Brewer, called C-SAM (Collins Strategic Academic Model). This concept was the school within a school. The program was highly opposed by some, but with perseverance and determination, it would take four years for the program's expected goal would be realized.
In 1994 due to C-SAM, Collins was able to capture twelve medals at the regional competition of the Academic Decathlon. Also, the Board of Education introduced a support program called SAS, an external partnership with DePaul University, headed by Dr. Barbara Sizemore. Together SAS and C-SAM enabled Collins to become the first 100% African American high school to come off probation. Reveling in his success Mr. Smith elected to retire in 1999 leaving Collins without a successor. Soon after, Collins suffered an implosion and the school soon returned to probationary status. Since then, Collins has had its cycles of challenges and accomplishments, with CPS making a final decision to close its doors in 2006 with a three year phase out plan.
Hope for the Future
The TAC team wanted people to recognize and appreciate the amount of effort and struggle that it took for the people in the community to get Collins opened 30 years ago.
It was the desire of the community from the beginning to offer a comprehensive educational program with heavy emphasis on career development. And it was also the desire of the community for the indigenous members of the community to attend and benefit from the institution that their ancestors fought so hard for. That is still the desire of the Collins staff and the North Lawndale Community today and we expect any school to comply with those desires.
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