Professor recalls marching with King
Stephen Tallackson was atop a wooded sand dune with his hands in the soil as I approached him. He was in the process of planting a couple of hundred tulip bulbs.
Tallackson, 72, is a semi-retired adjunct professor who teaches history at Purdue University Northwest's Hammond and Westville campuses. He lives in Ogden Dunes with his wife, Judi. They have raised two sons.
Our interview took place on the eve of the presidential election.
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“I grew up in Chicago — the Lakeview neighborhood,” he said. “It's called Wrigleyville today. My elementary school was only a block from Wrigley Field. I'm a third-generation Cub fan.”
“I've been in heaven this past week.”
“At first, I went to Lakeview High, but in October 1959, my folks moved to East Rogers Park during my sophomore year.”
“You're absolutely right. While living in East Rogers Park, I went to Sullivan High School.”
“In the fall of 1962, I attended what was then known as Chicago Teachers College North. At some point, it became Northeastern Illinois University. Back in '62, all they were doing was preparing people to teach in the Chicago public schools. Originally, I thought I'd become a high school history teacher; that's why I went there. But then, I decided I wanted to teach at the college level. So, I went to the University of Chicago for graduate school. I got my master's degree and completed all the requirements for a doctorate in history except for the doctorate dissertation. I was what was known as an ABD.”
“All but dissertation.”
“Our family started a little earlier than we foresaw. I had to get a job. I got started at a small Catholic college for women. In 1973, they eliminated my position and number of other positions. Surprise, surprise, they kept the two nuns with Ph.D.s.”
“I became executive director of the Gary Human Relations Commission. I had become involved in the Civil Rights Movement while in graduate school. Particularly, in 1965 after the marchers were beaten up on the Edmond Pettis Bridge in Selma (Ala.).”
“Yes. You know your history. I helped form a student rally and protest. We presented petitions to then-U.S. Attorney Edward Hanrahan, who later became famous when he was the Cook County State's Attorney who led the raid that resulted in the killing of (Fred) Hampton of Chicago's Black Panther chapter.
“In the summer of 1966, when Martin Luther King came to Chicago to protest housing discrimination, I held silent vigils in neighborhoods like Evanston and Oak Park. I marched with Dr. King in the Gage Park neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago. We dodged rocks being thrown at us by homeowners on Cicero Avenue.”
“From 1973 to 1979, during Mayor Hatcher's second and third terms. In 1979, I switched to the federal government — Health, Education and Welfare. After nine months, I transferred over to the (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) in downtown Chicago. I worked for them for nine years.
“Then, I became the EEO manager for Amtrak from St. Paul, Minn., to New Orleans. I did that from 1988 to 2000.”
“In 1973. We lived in the Miller neighborhood of Gary for 19 years. While working for Amtrak I moonlighted as an adjunct history professor at Purdue University Calumet for 11 years. When my job was eliminated at Amtrak, I took a full-time position as an academic adviser at Purdue Cal. I also continued teaching several history courses. To this day, when I teach my introduction to U.S. History courses, I try to work a lot in on issues of race. I deal with the labor movement a lot. The women, Hispanics ... I try to make sure the U.S. History that I teach at the college level is as diverse as possible, that it's not just the history of white men, even though, obviously, they were an important part of it.”
“I think one of the reasons I was attracted to the civil rights movement was the fact that my parents were an inter-religious marriage. My last name is a Norwegian name. My mother was Jewish and my father was raised Lutheran. When they were married in 1941, marriages of that type weren't that common. They lost friends who didn't approve of a Jew and a Christian getting married.”
“My Jewish grandparents are buried in Waldheim Cemetery.”
“I make a point of telling my Purdue Cal students that it was a Hoosier, Eugene V. Debs, who was the founder and president of the American Railway Union, the union that backed the Pullman strikers.
“While serving a prison sentence and running on the Socialist Party ticket, Debs received more than 1 million votes in the U.S. presidential election.”
“Obviously, it's going to be a very close election. I hope that Hillary (Clinton) wins, but I think Donald Trump has raised important issues such as factories closing. I think that's the one contribution Trump has made. He has highlighted how many of the people who have blue-collar jobs feel left behind.”
“Judi and I have been very active in the Jewish community. We're on the board of directors at Temple Israel in Miller. I'm also involved with Chicago Friends of Peace Now. We try to urge peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
***
It was a pleasure interviewing Stephen Tallackson, a man who has remained an activist and altruist since the 1960s. As far as the North Siders he rooted for this month, well, the professor batted .500. His beloved Cubbies won it all. Hillary Rodham Clinton did not.
What will become “legal” in the next four years?
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