September 19, 2024
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Oswego tour celebrates area’s Black history and heritage

The site of the Grove School south of Oswego where the Lucas children, members of one of the area’s Black farming families, attended classes, will be one of the stops when Oswego’s Little White School Museum hosts “Oswego History Tour - African American Heritage” at noon this Sunday, July 7.

The site of the Grove School south of Oswego where the Lucas children, members of one of the area’s Black farming families, attended classes, will be one of the stops when Oswego’s Little White School Museum hosts “Oswego History Tour - African American Heritage” at noon this Sunday, July 7. (Provided by Little White School Museum)

Learn the role African American heritage has played in local Oswego history with a bus tour at noon on Sunday, July 7.

In the years immediately following the Civil War up to the 1920s, a vibrant Black farming community grew up in the Minkler, Reservation, and Grove Road areas just south of Oswego. Some of those families eventually moved into Oswego, where their children became the first Black students to graduate from high school in Kendall County.

Eventually the families moved to Aurora and other areas where jobs were easier to find and where they continued to prosper.

Join Oswegoland Park District and Oswegoland Heritage Association members for this fascinating tour of the area’s African American heritage led by Little White School Museum Manager Anne Jordan.

The tour will include the areas where Black families farmed and attended area one-room schools, as well as a visit to the Oswego Township Cemetery where some of those residents —including five Black Civil War veterans—found their final resting places.

Registration is required for this roughly hour and a half tour due to space limitations. The fee is $7 for park district residents and $10 for non-residents.

Call 630-554-1010 or visit the museum’s reservations page at bit.ly/LWSMPrograms.

For more information about the Little White School Museum, call 630-554-2999, email them at info@littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org or visit www.littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org.