The proclamation was intended to restore the historic factory grounds of George Pullman’s namesake town, which were devastated by arson. Supporters also hoped to tell of the area’s architectural significance and founding as a model town, the industrial innovation behind Pullman Palace Car Co.’s luxurious sleeping rail cars, the rise of the labor movement and an African-American union’s legacy to the civil rights movement.

On February 19, 2015, in the parking lot of the House of Hope, three dark green Boeing MV-22 Ospreys touched down. One carried the 44th President of the United States and the nation’s first African American President, Barack Obama. His motorcade whisked him to Gwendolyn Brooks Preparatory Academy. There while I watched, President Obama declared […]