Local
Woodlawn names a block of Cottage Grove Avenue for civil rights organizer Al Raby
A stretch of Cottage Grove Avenue in Woodlawn is now Al Raby Lane, honoring the Chicago educator and organizer who led the 1963 school boycott against segregation. Mayor Brandon Johnson also proclaimed Feb. 19, 2027, Al Raby Day.
A block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in Woodlawn has been named Al Raby Lane, honoring the Chicago civil rights leader whose organizing challenged segregation in the city’s public schools and helped shape its political history.
The dedication took place Friday, Oct. 16. The honorary name covers Cottage Grove Avenue between East 63rd and East 64th streets; a sign stands at the northwest corner of Cottage Grove and 64th Street. Mayor Brandon Johnson also proclaimed Feb. 19, 2027, as Al Raby Day and urged Chicagoans to learn about Raby’s life and continue his work.
Raby, who grew up in Woodlawn, was a teacher before becoming a leading organizer in Chicago’s civil rights movement. In 1963, as head of the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, he organized Freedom Day, a school boycott in which nearly 300,000 students—most of them Black—stayed home to protest segregation and unequal conditions in Chicago Public Schools.
The protest challenged the district’s use of mobile classrooms known as “Willis Wagons” to address overcrowding in predominantly Black schools, while underused schools serving white students remained inaccessible to Black children. Chicago schools had not yet desegregated in compliance with the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Raby later helped bring Martin Luther King Jr. to Chicago in 1966 to address poor housing conditions facing Black residents. He also managed Harold Washington’s successful 1983 campaign to become Chicago’s first Black mayor and led the Peace Corps in Ghana during the Carter administration.
At the Woodlawn ceremony, attended by more than 100 people, Johnson connected Raby’s legacy to the fight for educational opportunity. “I followed the example of Al Raby in demanding an education system that offers every child and every educator and every family a chance to succeed,” he said.
Raby’s granddaughter, Katanya Raby, who leads the Al Raby Foundation, said her grandfather was less interested in recognition than in making organizations and campaigns succeed. “It wasn’t about making himself the star of the show. It was about getting the work done,” she said.
The foundation plans to develop a fuller account of Raby’s life for libraries, research institutions and schools. His granddaughter said preserving the history of Black Chicagoans matters because their work helped shape the city and its communities.