{"id":6998,"date":"2025-05-14T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/?page_id=6998"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:21:10","slug":"foundations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/foundations\/","title":{"rendered":"Foundations of Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_150_ChurchesCollagev2-1024x357.png\" alt=\"Three black-and-white images of African American churches in Illinois\" class=\"wp-image-5967\" style=\"width:1300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_150_ChurchesCollagev2-1024x357.png 1024w, https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_150_ChurchesCollagev2-300x105.png 300w, https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_150_ChurchesCollagev2-768x268.png 768w, https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_150_ChurchesCollagev2-1536x536.png 1536w, https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_150_ChurchesCollagev2.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>African American Churches of Illinois<\/strong><br>Images left to right: Wayman A.M.E. Church in Bloomington, IL, founded circa 1846, building completed in 1859, and expanded in 1871 (Source: Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/PPPBook\/page\/n3\/mode\/2up\">McLean County Museum of History, <em>Presence, Pride, and Passion: A History of African Americans in McLean County<\/em> [2009], 17<\/a>); Sketch of Union Baptist Church, Alton, Illinois (Source: Courtesy of Madison County Historical Society [IL], <a href=\"http:\/\/www.madcohistory.org\/\">www.madcohistory.org<\/a>. Johnson, Charlotte.\u00a0African Americans in Madison County, Illinois.\u00a02001.); Union Baptist Church, Springfield, Illinois (Source: Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/pictorialsouvenir1912\/page\/1\/mode\/2up\">McLean County Historical Society, <em>Pictorial Souvenir Central Illinois 1912<\/em>, 27<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-123143e5 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-right:300px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black political mobilization began in communities and was shaped by local opportunities and challenges. African American residents of Illinois built churches and schools to bolster their communities, and those institutions became a foundation for abolitionist and civil rights organizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/foundations\/founding-independent-churches\/\">Founding Independent Churches<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/foundations\/womens-organizing\/\">Women\u2019s Organizing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/foundations\/establishing-schools\/\">Establishing Schools<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/foundations\/petitioning-for-justice-in-public-education\/\">Petitioning for Justice in Public Education<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>African American Churches of IllinoisImages left to right: Wayman A.M.E. Church in Bloomington, IL, founded circa 1846, building completed in 1859, and expanded in 1871 (Source: Courtesy of McLean County Museum of History, Presence, Pride, and Passion: A History of African Americans in McLean County [2009], 17); Sketch of Union Baptist Church, Alton, Illinois (Source: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6829,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6998","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6998"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7557,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6998\/revisions\/7557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}