The 1950s were an era of marked racial discrimination and segregation.  As Chicago’s African-American population increased dramatically due to the influx of blacks from the South, Chicago’s South Side transformed from historically white populations to predominately black ones.  

Neighborhoods across the South Side, including Woodlawn, began to experience disinvestments and rapid deterioration ensued...

• Absentee landlords allowed their buildings to fall into disrepair;
• Local businesses sold low quality goods at inflated prices;
• City agencies cut back on essential public services;
• The physical infrastructure of the Woodlawn neighborhood began to collapse.

In the face of the alarming physical, social and economic decay, the residents of Woodlawn began to organize for change. 

In 1960, a group of religious and block club leaders brought together a coalition of over 100 neighborhood associations, religious institutions and civic organizations.  With the assistance of Saul Alinsky, a well-known community organizer, the Temporary Woodlawn Organization (later to become The Woodlawn Organization) started to lead a unified movement for self-determination.  Rev. Dr. Arthur M. Brazier was TWO’s founding president. Throughout the early sixties, TWO mobilized Woodlawn residents and collectively, they pressured merchants, property owners, city officials, and others to respond to their demands for change. Residents fought against inflated prices and inferior products by picketing and threatening boycotts.  Demonstrations in front of the suburban homes of property owners forced them to make basic repairs.  These early victories proved the power of collective action that began to establish TWO as a major political force in Chicago.

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