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 is documenting Joliet area Black history in an accurate narrative that acknowledges racial injustice using history; recognizes historic properties important to the Black community; challenges misinformation about the Black experience; records Black voices for future generations, and places 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 community. The final context study report will contain a comprehensive history of the area’s Black community from the first residents through the late 20th century and compile associated places connected to this history, including properties no longer extant.

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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.