Black History, Bold Futures: Timuel Black Scholars Reflect on How His Remarkable Legacy Has Impacted Them

This Black History Month, two students in City Colleges of Chicago’s Timuel D. Black Jr. Scholarship & Fellowship (TBSF) Program are reflecting on Black history as they build plans for bold futures.

Tamara Thomas is a 37-year-old mother and guardian of two teenage boys in Englewood. A student in the TBSF Program, she’s studying social work at Kennedy-King College in the hopes of one day becoming a therapist. While on track to turn that goal into reality with a 4.0 GPA and plans to transfer to Governors State University, Tamara’s education wasn’t always her focus.

She dropped out of high school during her junior year but found herself back in the classroom a few years later, getting ready to earn her GED through free prep classes at Kennedy-King. After that, she took at 16-year break from school and held several different jobs, eventually starting a small hair and skincare business. She knew she would need more education to scale the brand, so she enrolled in business classes at Kennedy-King.

“Entrepreneurship is great, but I felt like something was missing,” Tamara said. “I kept doing research on different career paths, and I finally realized I wanted to help people. That’s when I made the decision to switch my major to social work.”

As she was researching scholarships, Tamara noticed the TBSF Program, which stood out to her because of the fellowship component. The program is inspired by the late City Colleges professor Timuel Black’s remarkable career, his lifelong commitment to equity and justice in Chicago, and his belief in the power of community history and activism. Among many achievements, his legacy includes marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., campaigning for the first Black mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington, and mentoring a young Barack Obama.

“The opportunity to be a part of a cohort and learn about social justice is a huge part of the work that I will be doing as a social worker,” said Tamara. “I’ve learned a lot about Timuel’s story through the fellowship—the work he accomplished and the passion he had to do it for so long. Learning about his legacy has made me take a look at the power of one individual within a community. There’s beauty in the impact I can make as one person and how that can contribute to the whole of my society.”

The idea of making a local impact is shared by Tamara’s TBSF peer Laniya Fields. Laniya is a student across the city at Truman College. A few years ago, she was working at a day care on the West Side next to Congressman Danny Davis’ office. She decided to start volunteering at the office when she discovered that she was one of the few young people getting involved.

“I realized that I was the only young person there, and that was crazy to me. I didn’t know about all this work that was happening in my community or all of the resources available to us,” said Laniya. “That shifted my focus, and I decided I wanted to help connect people to those resources.”

Laniya enrolled at Truman and decided to study international relations. She loved the community feel of the college and started to get heavily involved on campus—in TRIO, Student Government Association, Environmental Club, and Book Club. She also started a position as a student worker in Truman’s Financial Aid Office.

“I had all of these ideas, but I wanted to learn how to organize. I wanted to find a mentor,” she said.

A classmate told Laniya about TBSF and the trip he took to visit civil rights sites in Alabama through the fellowship. Laniya saw it as a perfect opportunity to learn more about civic engagement and activism, as well as the civil rights leaders who did both effectively.

As she learned about Timuel Black’s biography, Laniya realized they had a few things in common. They both attended three different high schools before graduating, and both gained worked experience before heading back into the classroom for college. Additionally, Laniya wants to help build up other leaders in her community, something Timuel excelled at.

“I want to encourage other people in my community to become leaders—to create the type of change they want to see. That’s what Timuel did to inspire Harold Washington and Obama,” she said.

Next month, Laniya, Tamara, and the rest of their TBSF cohort will take their own trip to Alabama to visit historic civil rights landmarks including the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the 16th Street Baptist Church. They look forward to deepening their knowledge of Black history as they get inspired by the civil rights giants who came before them.

“When I started to learn about the roots of Black history, it changed my view on civic engagement. Young people tend to think it’s just about voting, but civic engagement is so much more than that. It’s about meeting each other in community spaces and changing the narrative. Learning about Black leaders has shown me how we can make change for tomorrow. If we can create more intergenerational and interconnected spaces at a local level, that’s the first step of creating positive change,” Laniya said.