Today in Chicago History: Feds say actions kept Chicago schools racially segregated for 35 years

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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on April 11, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 90 degrees (1930)
  • Low temperature: 25 degrees (1989)
  • Precipitation: 2.41 inches (1871)
  • Snowfall: 3 inches (2007)
In its report released in early April 1979, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare said the Chicago Board of Education, contained Black students in segregated Black schools, “while protecting whites in racially identifiable white schools.” (Chicago Tribune)

1979: The  U.S. Office for Civil Rights charged in a 102-page document that the Chicago Board of Education had systematically contained Black students in overcrowded, segregated schools, primarily through the use of mobile classrooms.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Bernie Sanders, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. protest against ‘Willis wagons’ in schools

“This is what we’ve been telling the government for years,” said Robert C. Lucas, head of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization.

After the federal agency’s findings, the Chicago schools moved to create magnet schools and other programs that attracted students from across the city.

Joe Stydahar, Chicago Bears, circa 1936. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) glass-plate, box# 1306, CHICAGO BEARS FOOTBALL
Chicago Bears tackle Joe Stydahar was the first offensive lineman ever drafted. He helped the Bears to three championships in the ’40s and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

1936: The Chicago Bears signed their first-ever draft pick (at No. 6): Joe Stydahar, a tackle from West Virginia.

Stydahar was named second-team All-Pro as a rookie in 1936, then first-team after the next four seasons. He helped the Bears win NFL championships in 1940 and ’41, served in the Navy in 1943-44, returned for the final three games of the 1945 season and in his final year helped the Bears win another title in 1946.

The Bears went 72-52-2 (.737) in Stydahar’s nine seasons.

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