Black Panther Party Heritage Trail in Illinois
Site 3
St. Dominic’s Catholic Church
Photo: Jerry “Odinga” Dunigan at the Illinois Chapter’s Free Breakfast for Children Program at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church by Photographer Stephen Shames
Site 3: St. Dominic’s Catholic Church
Photo: Gabriel X. Michael
Site 3
Name
St. Dominic’s Catholic Church
Location
357 West Locust St., Chicago, IL 60610, Near North Side, Cabrini-Green
Historical Period of Significance
1969.
Original Structure
Demolished.
Panther Activities
Free Breakfast for Children Program
Rainbow Coalition organizing
Historical Marker Installation Status
Not yet Installed.
PHOTOS
The Black Panther Party joined forces with tenants and activists in Cabrini Green to address deplorable housing conditions. This article, written by Rockford, Illinois, Panther Monk Teba, criticizes the increased police presence in the housing project. Housing Point Number Four in the Black Panther Party's 10-Point Platform and Program: 4. We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter of Human Beings. We believe that if the White Landlords will not give decent housing to our Black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.
Panther Jerry "Odinga" Dunigan with Cabrini Green boys at the Free Breakfast for Children Program at St. Dominic's Catholic Church. St. Dominic's was close to Cabrini Green, and parents, along with the Panthers, volunteered to feed children every morning before school. Photographer Stephen Shames
(left) Tenant leader Marion Stamps speaks at a press conference on July 31, 1970. Marion Stamps was a key ally of the Illinois Chapter, standing with her in her fight for better living conditions. She served at the Free Breakfast for Children Program and had one of the most successful tenant rights organizations in the country. While the Rainbow Coalition crossed racial lines, the Black Panther Party made coalition building a primary unifying goal. Stamps warned the community that developers and city government were going to move them out of their homes. After she died in 1996, gentrification escalated, and in the years that followed, Cabrini Green was demolished and the residents displaced. ST-13001733-0007, Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum
On the one-year anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, demonstrations were held across the city of Chicago. In Cabrini, youth are seen running. April 4 1969, ST-12006260-0028, Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum
(Center) Rockford Panther Monk Teba, author of the accompanying newspaper article on Cabrini-Green, is pictured speaking at an unrelated event at St. Louis University on May 18, 1970. United Press International (UPI)
