Dedicate Chicago Park to Black Panther Party
Name Park 574 “People’s Park”
February 4, 2024, Letter to Chicago Park District Superintendent
Dear Superintendent Escareño,
Our organization and its members are requesting Park 574 be named “People’s Park” in honor of the Black Panther Party in Illinois.
My name is Leila Wills, and I am the executive director of the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. We completed a landmarking request with the state of Illinois. In late December 2023, the National Park Service signed a Thematic Listing for the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party into the National Register of Historic Places.
You may view the Thematic Listing and our extensive documentation of the Party’s work in Chicago here - Final ILBPP Thematic Listing MPS.pdf
Park 574, 2540 W. Jackson, sits on the grounds of the former Rockwell Gardens public housing and is a half-mile from the Party’s former Illinois headquarters at 2350 W. Madison. We are developing a Black Panther Party Heritage Trail in Illinois and the Party had extensive outreach in Rockwell Gardens, the school, and the surrounding community.
It crossed racial barriers in Chicago and established the Rainbow Coalition with the Young Lords, Young Patriots, Rising Up Angry, and others that politicized underrepresented communities like Puerto Ricans, poor whites, and other ethnic groups to demand participation in city services.
Poverty was geographically concentrated on Chicago's west, south, and near north sides and created “no-man’s lands” where no outsider dared to venture, except for the priest, pastor, or police. Poverty was the causative factor of the other social ills that came with it: crime, violence, broken families, substance abuse, educational failure, disease, and hunger.
The Party founded and organized groundbreaking social programs that led to legislative change. Programs against hunger include the Free Breakfast for Children Program, located throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods, and fed over 4,000 children a day at its peak. A result of this initiative, led by the Black Panther Party, was the U.S. School Breakfast Program, which was permanently authorized in 1975 and inspired federal programs such as the USDA’s National School Breakfast Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Another revolutionary program started by the Party was free health care. The Spurgeon Jake Winters People’s Health Center was located at 3850 W. 16th Street and was a pioneering leader in servicing poor people. The American Journal of Public Health estimated that the Spurgeon Jake Free Medical Center, named after a fallen BPP member, had 1400 patients registered and saw at least 75 patients a week. The practices at the health center included a patient advocate who ensured privacy to the patients and led to today’s HIPPA rules and standards.
Sickle Cell Anemia testing initiated by the Black Panther Party led to the National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act in 1972, signed by President Richard Nixon. The Act provided funds for education, research, and treatment for those with the disease. Today, because of this trailblazing initiative by the Black Panther Party, all newborns are tested for Sickle Cell Anemia.
The Black Panther Party in Illinois has demonstrated outstanding service and dedication to the people, and we now nominate Park 574 to be named “People’s Park” in honor of those they represented and served.
Other parts of our landmarking initiative include several markers at significant Party locations, and we hope to include the park’s naming in our summer programming. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can provide anything further.
We look forward to working with you.
Best,
Leila Wills
The Historical Markers Fund
Help place historical markers at demolished Black Panther Party sites in Chicago.
Donate to our Historical Markers Fund
The Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party has successfully achieved a Thematic Listing for the Black Panther Party in Illinois on the National Register of Historic Places.
All proceeds from this fundraiser will go to our Historical Marker Fund. Your donation will help us order and install historic markers at key Black Panther Party Locations in Illinois. Just about all of these sites have been demolished. Our markers will commemorate the work of the Party for years to come.
