Sunday, July 24, 2005

"White Family Moves to Town"

Glencoe, a suburb not too far north of me is featured in the Onion. Pretty funny and unfortunately kind of appropriate article,
GLENCOE, IL—Shock, outrage and fear were just some of the emotions that failed to sweep through this affluent Chicago suburb Monday, when word got out among residents that a white family had moved to town over the weekend.

...Area investment banker Harold Boyce agreed: "I've got nothing against whites. Some of my best friends are white," Boyce said. "Actually, I guess they all are."

"We here in Glencoe are very open about including all different types in our community," said Fred Schukal, a dentist and Bill Hanson's new golf partner. "To be honest, it really doesn't matter to us what part of Europe you're originally from. As the Hansons' experience here shows, there's room in Glencoe for every shade of Caucasian in God's white rainbow."
The picture that the Onion features would have been a perfect representation of a Northshore family if only it were 1992.

5 comments:

Chris said...

Not a defense or anything, just an added observation.

There actually was a sizable number of African Americans in Glencoe up to about 10 years ago or so (maybe earlier). St. Paul AME is still there as well. However, the numbers have gone down quite a bit since housing prices exploded.

Elaine said...

Yeah the housing prices are ridic.

Anonymous said...

when i was growing up on the north shore (1960s) i was told that the african american presence in glencoe was due to it being a stop on the Underground Railroad
~ harriet

Elaine said...

hmm...that's interesting. I mean Glencoe is at least more diverse than Winnetka and Kenilworth.

Chris said...

From the Glencoe Historical Society:

"Did Glencoe have an Underground Railroad stop?
Many people want to believe that Glencoe was enlightened and many residents aided runaway slaves. But there is no hard evidence to that effect. The Underground Railroad was the euphemistic title used to describe the routes that slaves traveled to reach freedom in Canada. Sympathizers along the route provided secret and safe haven in their homes. When the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency recently issued its special issue on “Underground Railroad” in “Historic Illinois” magazine, it clearly shows lots of routes from downstate to Chicago – and nowhere further north. All the routes usually led to Chicago, where many slaves then boarded ships to be carried further north. Glencoe was north of Chicago, and populated by very few people in the pre-Civil War era, (in the first census after Glencoe’s 1869 incorporation, the population was 150) was unlikely to be the home for any runaway slaves."

So, who knows.