CARBONDALE — For many of us, if Black history is ever taught in schools, it often focuses on events happening in Alabama, Georgia or the Carolinas, far away from where we live.

Many of the communities we call home have centuries of history. But little known is the history of communities that sprung up at the same time, serving as safe havens for Black Illinoisans after escaping slavery or later building lives of their own.

Brandyn-Wilcoxen

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