Joliet Area African American Historic Context Study

The City of Joliet, through its Historic Preservation Commission, is launching a historic context study that documents the history and culture of the Joliet area Black community. While similar context studies have been undertaken in other parts of the United States, this will be the second African American historic context study completed in Illinois.

Working with the city, Preservation Futures will document Joliet area Black history in an accurate narrative; acknowledge racial injustice using history; recognize historic properties important to the Black community; challenge misinformation about the Black experience; record Black voices for future generations, and place historic Route 66 history in context with the Black Community.

The context study will include traditional historical research as well as input from the Joliet area African American community. The final context study report will contain a comprehensive history of the Joliet area’s African American community from the first residents through the late 20th century. It will also contain defined historical themes connected with the African American experience in Joliet. Associated places connected to this history will also be compiled in the report, including properties no longer extant.

This project will result in community conversations and forge new or re-establish community partnerships around the history of diversity, equity and inclusion in Joliet. The information generated from this project will help ensure that the City and its partners are inclusive and equitable with long-range planning efforts.

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One of 200 “Redlining Maps” produced by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation between 1935 and 1940 with the stated purpose of stabilizing homeownership across the country. The 1937 Joliet map categorizes Joliet neighborhoods into four groups. Those neighborhoods that the HOLC determined to have the highest mortgage lending risks were shaded red. The descriptions of Joliet’s “redlined” neighborhoods are not subtle, declaring the “colored section” near the downtown as a “detrimental influence.” The HOLC map essentially codified the exclusion of home sales to citizens of specific racial and ethnic groups, which has continued to have a deleterious effect on Black citizens inasmuch as homeownership is a critical factor in amassing generational wealth and it has continued to have adverse ramifications for the specific neighborhoods in which Black citizens resided.