South Shore Proposal

In September 1968, representatives from the South Shore Commission and the Southeast Community (SECO) randomly selected 300 of the 1800 applications of pupils living in District 22 and selections of Districts 17, 22, and 27 to participate in a voluntary busing plan and thus take the first step toward implementing the South Shore Proposal.

 Guidlines established and described in the proposal were followed to create the present organizational structure of the Robert Alfred Black School.

 The stated purpose of the program was to offer a quality program of integrated education superior to those programs then being conducted in neighborhood schools. It was hoped that a program of this type would encourage parents to allow their children to participate in voluntary busing and , therefore, help stabalize a community undergoing rapid racial change.

Attendance Area and Community

The Black School attendance area currently encompasses the boundaries of over forty contributing schools in Districts 14, 16, 17, and 22. It extends from Cottage Grove Avenue on the North to the city limits on the South, from Cottage Grove Avenue on the West to the lake on the East. The school community is composed of many socio-economic levels, occupations, housing patterns, and racial/ethnic groups.

Chicago Board of La Rabida Children's Hospital In 1967 the Chicago Board of Education approved the dedication of a school to the  memory of Dr. Robert A. Black MD.

  Dr. Black was a prominent south side physician during the first half of the 20th century. He taught at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University and was head of the Pediatric Service at Mercy Hospital. He was a fellow of the American Medical Association, Advisory Board of Municipal Contagious Disease Hospital and the Chicago Board of Health. Dr. Black served as Director of the Chicago  Heart Association and as President of The Chicago Pediatric Society.

  He is best remembered for the fact that he offered his services free of charge to the women conducting a nursery school in the south side LaRabida building. In 1927 LaRabida changed its activities into the field of rheumatic fever on the initiative of Dr. Black. Due to his efforts, it became the recognized center for the study and treatment of the disease.