Rich, Faith Papers

Dates: 1821-1993, bulk 1940s-1980s Size: 21 linear feet, 41 boxes, 206 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Neighborhood History Research Collection. Faith Rich (1909-1990) was a white community activist, educator and volunteer with numerous organizations including the Chicago Westside Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI), the 15th Place Block Club, the Literacy Council of Chicago and local PTAs. She focused her organizing efforts on issues of civil rights, desegregation of schools and neighborhoods, equality in education, racism and the effect of urban renewal on local communities and especially, her own North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago. Her collection contains her voluminous correspondence with family, friends and fellow activists along with meeting materials from social justice organizations and a sizable library of publications that document Chicago's urban renewal initiatives from the 1950s-1970s. [Finding aid]