Our Black history begins in the very first seeds of Lake Forest, dating to the 1860s. 

 

Rooted in the town’s founding as a haven centered on property ownership and higher learning, African Americans built homes and neighborhoods, businesses and careers, churches and societies. They created opportunities to attain an education, with each generation rising from the energy and enterprise of the last. 

 

As this Black community grew, they’ve forged in Lake Forest the space to flourish, while also confronting the constraints rooted in systemic racism: redlined homes, gentrified business blocks, segregated clubs, workplace and educational inequities. Through all of this the community has branched out, scattering leaves from Hollywood to Washington, D.C., in universities and military service, in newsrooms and courtrooms.  

 

Today Lake Forest’s African American community stands tall, though in smaller numbers than in the past. Their story is intrinsic to the Lake Forest story. Deeply Rooted and Rising High shares our Black history, from the roots to the heights, along with the bends and knots and branches in between.