Timuel Black

Timuel Black was born on December 7, 1918 in Birmingham, Alabama.[2] His great-grandparents were slaves and his grandparents were born as slaves and freed by the Emancipation Proclamation; his parents were sharecroppers.[3] He grew up in Chicago, where he graduated from DuSable High School in 1937.[4] He graduated from Roosevelt University, where he earned a bachelor's degree, and he earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago.[4] Black served in World War II, and he received four Battle Stars, the Croix de Guerre, and the Legion of Honour.[4]

Black began his career as a social worker.[4] During the 1960s, Black was president of the Negro American Labor Council (Chicago Chapter) and an organizer of Chicago participation in the 1963 March on Washington.[5]

Black was the named plaintiff in the lawsuit Black v. McGuffage[6]. The suit claimed that the Illinois voting system discriminated against minorities in its use of faulty punch card ballots. Deployed in black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago, the faulty ballots prevented residents from casting valid votes in the 2000 presidential election. After Black v. McGuffage, punch card ballots were eliminated and a uniform voting system was put in place.[7]

A book of interviews with Black about the African-American history of the South side of Chicago conducted by Susan Klonsky and edited by Bart Schultz was published in 2019. Black explained, "I'm here to personalize and transfer that history to younger people across all lines--race and gender."[8]

As of 2020, Black serves on the board of Defending Rights & Dissent.[9]

• Black, Timuel D. (2003). Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Great Migration. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 9780810123151. OCLC 567296988.
• Black, Timuel D.; Klonsky, Susan (2019). Schultz, Eduard (ed.). Sacred Grounds: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black as Told to Susan Klonsky. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 9780810139244. OCLC 1088790146.