Black History Month ‘Tea Party’ in Oak Park empowers girls to ‘accomplish your dreams’

As girls dressed in African-print garb sat around tables for lunch Sunday and moved about the room at the Oak Park Country Club taking part in activities during a special tea party Juanta Griffin helped to organize, she remembered a time when Black people were not allowed to join that venue and weren’t really welcome even as visitors.

But Sunday afternoon, nearly 100 Black girls got to have lunch, dance and socialize with each other at the annual “Uniquely You Tea Party” held at the country club.

The party, organized through the Oak Park Public Library, is part of the Black History Month celebration and is intended to have Black kids interacting with each other to let them know they’re not alone in a community where they’re part of the minority.

“I wanted little Black girls to know wherever your feet go, you belong,” said Griffin, the library’s multicultural learning coordinator.

At the tea party, where traditional sandwiches, lemonade and other drinks were served, the girls, age 8 to 12, participated in a friendship scavenger hunt where they had to find kids who had certain pets or spoke languages other than English, and an assortment of other goals meant to break the ice and help build nascent friendships.

Working together, the girls built vision boards, pasting magazine cutouts to represent their hopes and dreams for the future –  whether those included wealth, marriage, professional success or some combination.

The girls also had a chance to hear a few words from Cook County Circuit Judge Marianne Jackson.

Jackson used “The Wizard of Oz” — and “The Wiz” — movies to illustrate how the girls could achieve success given tools they already have.

“Just like Dorothy, you already have everything you need,” she said. “You have the power to accomplish your dreams.”

Griffin, also a longtime resident of Oak Park, said it’s easy for Black kids to grow up without many friends who look like them or have a shared cultural experience or cultural identity.

She said that was her experience coming of age in the village. In the 1970s, by the time she hit junior high school, Griffin said she watched as white students quickly made friends and saw familiar faces despite not attending the same elementary schools. Instead, she realized, those kids had developed friendships outside of school – on sports teams and in other social settings. So, by the time they got to a new school, it was a far less lonely experience at the outset.

“By the time we (Black students) got to junior high, nobody knew each other,” said Griffin, a longtime educator. “I saw the same thing happening in 2010 and 201l. The same thing happened with these little girls.

But now, as the multicultural learning coordinator at the village library, Griffin felt she had the power to do something about it.

“I thought, ‘let’s start building relationships now,’” she said. “‘Let’s get these girls together and mentor them so they have a shared experience.’”

The tea parties started in the basement of the Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church and since then have grown each year – and been held in a new space. This year, the Oak Park Country Club hosted the event, marking a particularly important milestone for Griffin and her group. It was the realization of a longtime goal, but with personal, if somewhat painful, memories.

“In my mind I pictured [having the tea parties] here,” Griffin said.

She explained that when she was a young girl, Black people weren’t allowed membership to the club and while they could come as guests, they were never really welcomed. But the tea party Sunday was very much a welcoming event, and Griffin said it serves as a teaching tool.

Next year, she’s hoping for another lesson.

“I think we’ll stay here maybe for a few years,” Griffin said.

Jesse Wright is a freelancer.