Peggy Terry

In the 1960’s, an estimated 65,000 white migrants from the South lived in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Among them was Peggy Terry (1921-2004), the granddaughter of a Klan member, who became a racial justice activist. She later became a leader of JOIN (Jobs or Income Now), an interracial movement of the poor. Terry was recognized as one of the most effective community organizers in Uptown and became the Vice Presidential candidate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket headed by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver in 1968.

Why this stop? The area around the Thorndale Red Line stop was part of Peggy Terry’s organizing territory.

Learn more -- Listen to Studs Terkel interview Peggy Terry  (Interview begins at 29:44)

Get involved—Learn the basics of community organizing from The People’s Lobby