I was born in Chicago’s Avalon Park neighborhood in 1965. At the time of my birth, this bedroom community on Chicago’s Southeast Side was nearly entirely white. But by 1970, the entire neighborhood was African-Americans, as white families fled due to panic peddling realtors and block busters. Ironically, the median family income in Avalon Park increased after white families, and the neighborhood was still solidly middle class. The neighborhood was fun for children. I vividly recall attending double-features at the beautiful Avalon Theatre on Stony Island Avenue. This was (and is) a beautiful movie palace which I felt privileged to attend.
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| 1967 photo of my mom and dad with me (center) and my sister, Donna and brother, Donald (far right) |
My mom, Ruth Owens, and my dad, James Owens, were both hard-working children of the South, who moved up to Chicago in the late 1940s. My dad worked at the U.S. Steel South Works plant on the Southeast Side for many years. But later in life, he became a tradesman, working as a painter in numerous buildings owned by Katz Realtors. My mom worked at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where she was employed for over 40 years as a nurses’ assistant. I feel blessed that I grew up where I did, when I did. I wouldn’t trade my life as a child on the Chicago’s Southeast Side for that of any other child in the United States.
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