The McLean County Museum of History (MCMH) and Not In Our Town (NIOT) are proud to announce a new Social Justice walking tour website, chronicling historic Bloomington events. Thanks to a generous “Under Our Wing” grant from Business Builders Marketing, this website guides people to actual social justice event sites in Bloomington. The site is at https://blono-social-justice-tour.org/.
The website at blono-social-justice-tour.org guides people to 15 different sites where social justice related events took place, from the Civil War through the 2000s. There are six categories: Women’s Rights, the Civil War, African American Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Immigration, and Labor & Unions. The map feature encourages users to visit these sites in person to design their own walking tour. Pages also include links to additional content inside MCMH exhibits, biographies and books, allowing visitors to explore topics more deeply. Students will find this an invaluable research tool for local history.
Labor history sites include the 1917 transit strike with Mother Jones and the old Armory. Troops were dispatched from the Armory to suppress strikes.
“Our community offers some unique stories where the national quest for equality and justice played out in our community,” said Museum of History executive director Julie Emig. “It is very eye-opening when one sees the deep efforts people made to achieve fairness within our own backyard.”
“Too often we think of social justice efforts as happening in big cities or distant places,” said NIOT co-chair Mike Matejka, who piloted the project. “We all know who Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are, but who are the people who made efforts to change our community? Through this site, one learns about those very real local efforts.”
Business Builders Marketing owner Jennifer McCarron added, “McLean County is a fantastic community with a history and culture as unique as those who make their home here. It’s been a pleasure to partner with the McLean County Museum of History to offer an innovative, web-based way to learn more about our exciting past. We hope that the online Downtown Bloomington Social Justice Walking Tour will be appreciated by scholars, history buffs, and the community for many years to come.”
The sites included are:
The Old Courthouse, 200 N. Main Street, now the Museum of History, where women first voted locally in 1892 and troops encamped during the 1917 transit strike;
Schroeder’s Opera House, formerly at 205 N. Main, where the first Illinois Women’s Suffrage Convention was held and Frederick Douglass and others spoke;
The former Woolworth’s, 110 East Jefferson, where the Illinois NAACP picketed in 1960 to protest southern U.S. segregation;
The Illinois House, 211 West Jefferson, formerly Bloomington’s finest hotel, which was segregated in the early 20th century;
The Bloomington Times newspaper office, formerly at 216 N. Center, where an angry mob attacked this pro-slavery newspaper in 1862;
106 West Washington, where Jesse and Kersey Fell convinced Abraham Lincoln to write his autobiography in 1859;
102 West Washington, Sigmund Livingston’s law office, founder of the Anti-Defamation League;
The Lincoln Parking Garage, Major’s Hall site, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his “lost speech” about slavery expansion.
221 East Front Street, Gummerman Printing site; the German language Bloomington Journal was forced to print in English during World War I.
109 East Olive, Bloomington City Hall; multiple meetings took place here over equal opportunity, housing and LGBTQ+ rights.
Bloomington Armory, formerly at 316 S. Madison, where troops were dispatched to squelch labor strikes;
400 S. Madison, “Pone Hollow,” a 19th century, mixed race shanty town.
Electric powerhouse, 402 S. Roosevelt, this was protected by troops after famed labor organizer Mary “Mother” Jones spoke supporting local streetcar strikers in 1917.
Wayman A.M.E. Church, 803 West Olive Street, current location for Bloomington’s oldest African-American congregation.
The tour was first developed by MCMH emeritus director Greg Koos and Matejka in the early 2000s. Matejka and Museum Librarian Bill Kemp still offer the tour for students and civic organizations. As warmer weather nears, a walking tour is planned to mark this website launch.
The website was a collaborative effort between MCMH staff, Business Builders Marketing, and student interns Aaron Sander, Yvin Shin and Aditi Sharma.
The “Under Our Wing” grant from Business Builders Marketing was supplemented with an Illinois Department of Human Services Healing Illinois Grant and an Illinois Humanities Council grant.
Illinois Humanities is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Illinois General Assembly [through the Illinois Arts Council Agency], as well as by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by speakers, program participants, or audiences do not necessarily reflect those of the NEH, Illinois Humanities, our partnering organizations or our funders.