housing [and] the real estate agencies would be hesitant to show you anything other than the 5th Ward.
In the late 1940s, the city also demolished some homes belonging to Black families that were outside of the 5th Ward — or physically took them from their foundations and moved them into the redlined boundaries.
Evanston’s reparations really went into serious discussions in 2019. It was spearheaded by 5th Ward Alderman Robin Rue Simmons and is mainly rooted partially in Simmons’ experience growing up Black in Evanston.
Reparations first arose as a promise, in early 1865, to redistribute land in the southeast U.S. to formerly enslaved people. For decades, the promise is often invoked in the phrase, “40 acres and a mule.”
Simmons still lives in the ward she represents. She says over time, resources were stripped away from her neighborhood. That, she said, coupled with a lack of investment, led to an ever-increasing wealth gap between white and Black residents in the city.
In a 70+ page report, Robinson documented a systematic history of discrimination and racism in Evanston that dated back to the late 1800s.
She hopes that her work will help families in her neighborhood that are “burdened … get some relief” via reparations, which will first be distributed this year in increments of up to $25,000 per eligible resident to use for housing.