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.