Exhibits and Presentations

These photographs are part of the Chicago Freedom Movement 1965-1966, also known as the Chicago Open Housing Movement. It was the most ambitious civil rights campaign in the North. Few people today, realize that open housing, now fair housing, was as much a part of the Civil Rights Movement as Voting Rights, bus boycotts, and integrating lunch counters.

The Chicago Freedom Movement Photography Exhibit is a small but revealing snapshot of Dr. Martin Luther King's visit and marches in Chicago, and of both the ugliness and beauty of the response to open housing by the people of Chicago. Dr. King said, "When we were demonstrating around the whole issue of open housing, we were confronted with massive violence as we marched ... Swastikas bloomed in Chicago parks like misbegotten weeds. Our marchers were met by a hailstorm of bricks, bottles, and firecrackers. I've been in many demonstrations all across the South, but I can say that I have never seen, even in Mississippi, mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as in Chicago."

In remembrance and celebration of the Chicago Freedom Movement's fight for fair housing, Bernard J. Kleina assembled his rare and historic color photographs that depict that struggle. Included in the exhibit are images of Dr. King, Coretta Scott-King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Al Raby, Dick Gregory, Mahalia Jackson, Ralph Abernathy and others. The photographs also capture many of those who attempted to disrupt these peaceful marches. Mr. Kleina's photography exhibit has been shown in more than 35 cities as well as at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, the Illinois State Capital Building, the Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Toledo Museum of Art.

The photography exhibit includes contemporary photographs reminding us that we still have a long way to go before we achieve what Dr. King fought for and what we are fighting for now--open and fair housing and an end to racial and ethnic segregation.

View selections from the exhibit.

Mr. Kleina's photography exhibit on the Chicago Freedom Movement is being shown throughout the country. Since 2007, The Chicago Freedom Movement Photography Exhibit was shown at the following locations:

Legal Defense Fund, Duke University, Durham, NC Silver State Fair Housing Council, Las Vegas, NV Central Alabama Fair Housing Center, Montgomery, AL Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, AL Arkansas Fair Housing Conference, April 5-7, 2016, Little Rock, AR Fair Housing Center of Marin, San Rafael, CA Greater Napa Fair Housing Center, Napa, CA Housing Rights Center, Berkeley, CA Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board, Rancho Cucamonga, CA Los Angeles Times Building, Los Angeles, CA Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Hartford, CT, June 13, 2013       Exhibit and Talk Hotel Monaco, Washington, DC National Fair Housing Alliance, Washington, DC City of Hollywood, FL Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Miami, FL Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County,       Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches,       & City of West Palm Beach,       April 29, 2016, West Palm Beach, FL Savannah-Chatham Fair Housing Council, Savannah, GA Atrium, Hyatt Hotel, Lisle, IL Benedictine University, Lisle, IL Chicago Freedom School, Grace Place, Jan 21, 2013 Chicago Public Library, Neighborhood Branches, Chicago, IL City of Chicago, Commission on Human Relations, Jan 21, 2013 DePaul University, Jan 21 - Feb 8, 2013 North Central College, Schoenhen Gallery, Fine Arts Center, Naperville, IL City of Wheaton, IL The DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL       Kiosk Governors State University, University Park, IL Illinois State Library, Springfield, IL North Central College, Naperville, IL, Jan 17 - Mar 2, 2014       Exhibit and Talk Sacred Heart Grammar School, Chicago, IL State of lllinois Capitol Building Rotunda, Springfield, IL State of lllinois Building, Main Floor Atrium, Chicago, IL South Suburban Housing Center, April 21, 2016, Flossmoor, IL Village Center, Woodridge, IL Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, Indianapolis, IN, April 18, 2013       Exhibit and Talk Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc., Baltimore, MD Fair Housing Center of South West Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI Holland City Hall, Holland, MI Loutit District Library, Grand Haven, MI Grand Rapids Graduate Center, Grand Rapids, MI Fair Housing Center of Nebraska-Iowa, Omaha, NE Fair Housing Justice Center, New York, NY Long Island Housing Services, Bohemia, NY Silver State Fair Housing Center, Reno, NY Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, OH Fair Housing Advocates Association, May 5, 2016, Cuyahoga Falls, OH Fair Housing Resource Center, Painsville, OH Fair Opportunities of Northwest Ohio, Toledo, OH Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, Dayton, OH Shaker Heights City Hall, Shaker Heights, OH Sinclair College Main Hall, Dayton, OH The Housing Research and Advocacy Center, Cleveland, OH Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH Wachovia Bank Atrium, Richmond, VA City of Tacoma, Jan 21 - Feb 28, 2013 University of Washington School of Law, February 26, 2015. Installation of Permanent Chicago Freedom Movement Exhibit, Seattle, WA University of Washington Law School, Feb 10, 2014       Exhibit and Talk Seattle City Hall, Seattle, WA Northwest Fair Housing Alliance, Spokane, WA FairHousingCenter of Washington, Tacoma, WA

If you would like to show the Chicago Freedom Movement exhibit in your city or facility please Contact Us or call 630-260-4100.