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Documentary tells the story slaves who moved to Chicago and formed a community

Dreamed of for decades by African-American leader Ernie Broadnax, finally turned into reality over the past two years by director Phil Broxham with the help of the Elgin History Museum, that long-discussed documentary film tracing the history of African Americans in Elgin will be unveiled to the world Sunday with a premiere showing at Elgin Community College, to be followed by a program next month at Gail Borden Public Library.

Called "Project 2-3-1: Two Boxcars, Three Blocks, One City" the documentary will show how two boxcars full of escaped slaves who arrived in Elgin during the Civil War settled in a segregated three-bock area known as "the Settlement" and finally integrated into one city with their non-black neighbors after decades of civil rights struggle.

The 75-minute film will be screened and discussed at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 26 in he Blizzard Theatre in Building H at Elgin Community College, at 1700 Spartan Drive. An interactive traveling exhibit to go along with it will be displayed at the college for the following two weeks.

Read entire article at The Chicago Tribune