RISING HIGH

Lake Forest is a city of stories, many that are known around the world. One by one, person by person, they create the rich, interwoven roots of Lake Forest from its founding in 1861 to the city we know today. And while the triumphs of such early residents as English architect Howard Van Doren Shaw and meatpacking magnate Jonathan Ogden Armour are well documented, hundreds of stories have been lost to history—including those of Thomas Porter, who moved to Lake Forest from Maryland in the early 1900s because of its reputation for being welcoming to Black families after the Civil War. But now, thanks to the work of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum and its pioneering Executive Director Carol Summerfield, the stories of Lake Forest’s first Black families are not only being celebrated, but archived for generations to come. She learned about Porter and his success in Lake Forest from his great-grandson, one of many descendants of early Black families who are coming forward to share tales of ancestors who settled here and thrived. “Expanding our collection of history to include the amazing contributions of the Black residents of Lake Forest was a goal from the beginning, with the opening of the museum in 2018,” explains Summerfield, an Ann Arbor, Michigan, native who served in the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic right after college and spent more than 15 years in academic publishing before transitioning to marketing. “There were very few integrated communities on the North Shore. Lake Forest was one from the beginning. Home ownership put families who had migrated here after liberation from enslavement into a path of generational wealth and success. It has been my deep pleasure to bring Lake Forest and Lake Forest College’s narratives to the larger public.” What began with a grant from the American Historical Association to create a series of lectures in partnership with Ragdale has evolved into a collaborative digital publication backed by the National Archives and the Mellon Foundation. Over the next two years, “Deeply Rooted and Rising High: African-American Experiences in Lake Forest” will receive $105,704 to document 160 years of history of Black families in Lake Forest. “This ensures that we can continue to expand our collection and give it a permanent home online and on site so that historians everywhere can find these stories,” she says, adding that the project has been one of the highlights of her career. “Working in partnership with the academic team led by Professor Courtney Joseph at Lake Forest College, we’ve been connecting with families whose history runs through our community. There are numerous Black families here who have been in Lake Forest for well over a century. They’ve built successful businesses, raised families with children who’ve gone on to be judges, professors, film industry professionals, and a million other career journeys—and those stories should be told and celebrated.” And so, they are. With this new digital archive and a partnership with neighboring communities such as Waukegan and Glencoe that share this collective Black history, roots that were planted more than a century ago will rise, once again.

For more information about “Deeply Rooted and Rising High: African-American Experiences in Lake Forest” or to share your family’s story, visit lflbhistory.org. To make a contribution to supplement the grant and help the project grow, email Carol Summerfield at [email protected].