South Sider Albert “Al” Raby, born in 1933, rose from a grade-school dropout to an elementary English teacher at Hess Upper Grade Center, a path that led him to become a front-line civil rights organizer.
The late educator’s imprint on the city made national news, and his impact still resonates today.
In his 55 years, Raby was at the forefront of the Chicago Freedom Movement. In 1963, he convened the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, a Chicago civil rights group, to helm the walkout of hundreds of thousands of Chicago Public Schools students over CPS’ segregation policies and overcrowding in Black neighborhoods.
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In 1966, Raby brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Chicago, where King lived in a North Lawndale apartment for eight months to protest inequitable housing, education and employment. Raby later served as campaign manager for Harold Washington in the 1983 mayoral race and director of Chicago’s Commission on Human Relations under Mayor Washington. His ambition broadened when he served in the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1970 and then from 1979 – 82, he went global when he worked as the director of Peace Corps volunteers in Ghana.
Raby’s legacy was immortalized Oct. 16th as his family, friends, former colleagues and fans gathered to celebrate and witness the unveiling of an honorary street sign bearing his name at 6300 S. Cottage Grove Avenue. At the event, held at the Grand Ballroom in Woodlawn, Mayor Brandon Johnson proclaimed Raby’s birthdate, February 19th, as “Al Raby Day” going forward.
“Al Raby’s fight was rooted in the simple belief that every child should have a good school to attend, every family should have good neighborhoods to live in, and a government should answer to the people and not to the interests of corporations,” Johnson said.
Raby’s daughter, Kathy, said she high-fived her daughter, Katanya, when hearing the news of the sign and proclamation. The pair run and maintain the Al Raby Foundation, the local nonprofit that honors Raby’s legacy through community service, activism, and youth leadership development in the city.
“We just can’t believe it, it’s long overdue,” Kathy Raby said. “My father did a lot of footwork in that community (Woodlawn). We wanted to make sure that we honored the central part of the community. He was raised on Rhodes…mentored on 63rd and Cottage Grove. He went to school at McCosh. So this is right in the middle of all of that.”
Chicago historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas pointed out the famous picture of Bernie Sanders being arrested in Chicago was during the massive protest against CPS schools.
“The protest was happening because of a guy named Al Raby,” Thomas said. “He got Chicago kids to move in unison because of the power of his person. Sometimes in history we’re a little slow to make it right, but we’re able to do that today by honoring this man and putting that street sign up.”
The sign and proclamation is just the latest endeavor of the local nonprofit Raby Foundation, which supports social justice and racial equity movements and continues Raby’s narrative.
Recent works of the Foundation include assisting the Chicago History Museum update the “Facing Freedom” exhibit with Al Raby’s contributions to Chicago and the “Family Chats” series, where people are asked to share stories and videos about Albert and/or their experience during the civil rights movement with the Foundation.
“We’re collecting stories – it’s semi-journalism, but also historical, ancestral,” said Kathy Raby. “If you were here, you would know that there was a civil rights movement going on. What was your perspective on that? Those stories are untold, they have great value. They connect dots.”
Another project in the works is Kathy Raby’s video project “Learn With Me,” an endeavor that takes viewers along as she dives deeper into her father’s life and work, uncovering stories and learning together.
“My grandfather was a teacher first. He saw every day what students were being denied. So in 1963, he helped lead a boycott, which led 200,000 kids to stay home so that they could demand the education they deserved, and it has had a massive effect on the way that our children are handled today,” Katanya Raby said. “This is a Chicago story. My grandfather did not do this work to be remembered. He did it because he believed that children deserved and believed in a more just future for Chicago. Chicago remembers him, and our family is deeply grateful.”
Poet and Urban Gateways CEO Leslé Honoré composed and recited a poem for the occasion, sharing the words: “Al Raby was the organizer’s organizer…he was the work of the movement, educator of the movement, boots and hearts on the ground of the movement, the connector of the movement. He was the personification of service. He would want us to teach this generation that the real work starts before the cameras get there. That everyone is worthy of dignity, and that every part of our community can contribute to strategy, to planning, to change, to hope. Who wanted us to know that those in the front are only as strong as those behind them.”
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