Carol Adams Cultural Architect - Extended Version

If Carol Adams was an African Sculpture the plethora of patina would tell the magnificent story of an African American renaissance woman embedded with the layers over time redfish brown or Redbone like the patina on iron strong and enduring.

Carol’s tale is one of the female Black Baby Boomer and all that it entails during the time of a major transition in the  African Americans’ movement  from Colored to Negro to Black to African American, each terminology possessing value and meaning depictive of its time in history.  

Family and Education

Carol grew up in Louisville, Kentucky in a loving family with her father, a Fisk graduate and entrepreneur and her insightful mother. As she explains, “My parents had three biological, daughters- her two sisters born a year apart, greeting her  arrival nine years later. She remembers the experience essentially as having a bunch of parents, “because my older sisters were very custodial, to put it mildly, and I really admired them, so I always wanted to be around them, and wanted to do whatever they did.” She was fortunate that they were quite different offering the experience of opposite expressed personalities . One was a piano playing artistic type, and the other was sports loving athlete,  there end offered Carol the  introduction and exposure to both paths. Carol notes that her mother was a progressive thinker allowing her children to go to the church of their choice if they went to one. Her eldest sister was a Baptist, the other was a Catholic and her parents were Presbyterian. Carol explains , ”I went to church three times on Sunday—morning mass with my middle sister; Baptist church with my oldest sister and evening service with my parents.  

The household also included male cousins who often lived with them. As Carol puts it, “I was the baby of the family. And for Carol it meant, “I always had validation.” She was surrounded by people around who encouraged her, praised,  coached and told her that she could do anything she put her mind to do.  She throws her head back and laughs when she shares that later in life one cousin related that she hated listening to her‘ child’s play at the piano’ yet always cheered her on. Carol recalls that everything that her older sister taught her, prepared her for school. Carol recalls, “She escorted me to what was meant to be my first day of kindergarten. My sister put my age up, and I was enrolled into first grade at the elementary school next door to the junior high school that my sister attended.”

Pausing in reflection, Carol says, looking back, “I have such wonderful memories growing up in a real neighborhood on a block where everyone knew each other and as a child  we could  run in and out of our home and our friend's houses.  The doors were never locked. Every neighbor knew each other and protected the interest of the children.

It was amazing. Sometimes, I'm so, so sad for the kids today.”  That loss of extended family which is essential to a functioning community has been broken.  Carol says, I look out my window everyday, and I never, ever see any kids playing. The point I’m making is that we have lost our sense of the village and it’s a detriment to us. Think about it, “Kids played outside in the evening and could walk to church or the store safely because the whole community was extended family. Most importantly  we moved around without fear. Nobody was lurking in the cut to hurt you in any way.” Everybody knew everybody, protected the members. of the community . . .

Off to School

Carol says, I always knew that I was going to college because my father had made it clear that we were going. Our male cousins and my eldest sister attended Fisk even though my father preferred that his daughters go to a less male driver school.  He’d share that the dorms were barrack styled and not for girls, but Fisk was known for it’s music department and choir and so my piano playing oldest sister attended Fisk. My other sister attended Hampton. She was more traditional and wanted to get married. My mother made a deal with her to attend at least one year of college and then reconsider if she wanted to return the following year.

My sister kept her end of the bargain and married the next year. My father owned a two flat that had four units. He transformed the top floor two apartments into one where we lived and rented the other two one of which my sister and husband lived occupied before moving into their own home. One of male cousins and family lived in the other apartment.  

Living it that one big home with everybody in it was probably the happiest time of my life. I loved it.  The make-up of the family was such that all Carol’s needs were met. She could go from her mother to an older cousin for advice, comfort or a ride to wherever she needed to go.

I remember, like yesterday, the day my cousin got in the car to move to Washington.”  Carol experienced the Great Migration personally because it took her cousin and his family to Seattle to work for Boeing which was also closer to his wife’s family in Everett, Washington. The opportunities were limited to Blacks in the south, so they were more likely to go where more opportunities offered the possibility for financial and social advancement.

As college approached, the adults around her chose Fisk for Carol for many reasons. She turned down an opportunity graduate one year early if she’d enroll at  Fisk, because Fisk had a program called ‘Early Entrance.’ If you were smart, you could enroll a year ahead.

Carol refused the offer for several reasons; one she wanted to graduate with her class and second because she was already one year ahead. Further, at that time she was interested in attending law school and had done the research on which Black colleges had, a prelaw program. Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri had such a program.  Off to Lincoln she went with the added value that her father and uncle who both coached were friends with the Lincoln’s coach to whom they had sent many athletes. So off she went to Lincoln, where “I had 13 home boys that played football or basketball,”  says Carol.

Little did she know that her high school involvement in civil rights matters, where she had been the President of CORE Congress of Racial Equality that focused on achieving equality for all people, regardless of race, creed, sex, or other characteristics.  She had been arrested as a high school student so, as she headed off to college, her mother warned her, “Do not engage in any civil rights activities because we won’t be there to get you out, and no ones there for you. You're too far from home and all that.”  

As Carol speaks the story unfolds.  There she was at Lincoln, and not actively engaged in the student NAACP or other such organizations, but “I was still the same person,” she explains. However, her to commitment civil rights and the  promise to her Mother were tested when the students decided to actively protest places that were segregated in Jefferson City. However Lincoln was a state school, and the college president felt that he had to acquiesce to whatever the state asked of him. The first line of action was to expel the students who had demonstrated.

That action was followed by  a campus revolt. It had grown out of control so once  the men's dorm was  actually set on fire the President , as Carol explains, “came to our dorm and made an address for the first time since the school semester began  where.  “He demanded to know who was responsible for the riots and other campus unacceptable. He informed us that we had two choices--tell who had started the protests or no one  would leave the room until we did.  No one spoke up so he locked us in the parlor.  We chose not to tattle on anybody.. and didn’t therefore the punishment declared was that from then on, upon returning to the  in the dormitory after classes, we had to stay in our rooms. We couldn't fraternize with each other, because he felt that in our gathering we planned things. We could not visit each other's rooms. They even hired women to work the floors as guards  to make sure  we when we exited our rooms we went to the bathroom then returned to our rooms.”

Carol tolerated the nonsense for a week then called her mother, explained the prison like imposition placed upon them and asked that she come get her.  Her mother the pragmatist pointed out that there was a month or six weeks or so before school was out. She advised me that it would be foolish to waste the year of academic work. She said,  “ You can finish this out. Just set your mind to it. You can do it, and you'll never have to go back there again.  You can go to Fisk where you should have gone in the first place.”  In retrospect  Carol learned a valuable lesson. You must look at the pros and cons of your choices from all angles and the context, to properly prepare for what you are up against. That’s why civil rights organization train their participants before they march; walk the picket line or sit-in. It takes an incredible amount of training to endure what the Freedom Fighters did.

Fisk

In contrast, Fisk was the opposite Lincoln. Students’ active participation in civil rights was noy prohibitive. This was after all  the school of Dubois. “When we went to jail, they brought our schoolwork to us. They supported us; retained lawyers for us and expressed concerned for our well-being.  Carol notes that she attended Fisk was behind John Lewis and Diane Nash who had set a precedence for a contemporary task regarding demonstrations and students actively participating in pursuit of desegregation and equality. Even so, Carol tells of her protective mother whose concern was her safety and the possible backlash upon her father and their family.  However, Carol reports that her father was always proud and supportive of her involvement in advancing civil rights and  in keeping with his alma mater. His fearlessness was based in experience and belief in himself and thus impressed upon Carol which encouraged her to be fearless rather than foolish. Doing the civil rights work was not just the protesting itself but rather the preparation for the mental, emotional and physical endurance one must possess to get through it.  Going in doesn’t guarantee  that you will come out.

Carol notes that she got that her mother was protective, but her superpower was that she recognized that everyone is different and no matter how much her daughters may be the same they were unique in expressing that sameness. They were all strong willed and made their own choices in pursuit of their life choices based om the foundation that their parents had instilled in them. Carol had the greatest respect for her because her mother realized that she could treat each daughter the same by respecting their differences.

Chicago

After Fisk  Carol went to Boston University to pursue  her PhD but discovered that Boston was probably the most racist place she had ever experienced, even though she was from the south and had never been north.  Boston was not her initial introduction to the North but rather that summer she had participated in a Yale experimental summer program that involved Black students from the south and white students from the North. It focused on community development. She returned home before moving to Boston however had traveled  there during the summer to apartment hunt with the help of a Louisville high school  roommate who lived in Boston.

She and her mom traveled  to Boston to set up her first apartment.  She had no trouble renting the apartment, but she didn't know that she was the only Black resident in the building. She chose the apartment because of its proximity to Boston U.  The  day her mom’s   departure was the day the racial  signs were posted on her door alarming her mother. She told Carol, “You're not staying. We’re going home.”  Carol refused and reminded her that she had a friend, who lived in Boston, whose parents were very prominent. They told her mother that they’d  look after her… nothing is going to happen.’ “They successfully convinced us that it was all bluff and yes they were racist, but they’re not going to do anything but try and make you uncomfortable.’ Mrs. Adams left reluctantly. Then things the wake up call came. Carol shares that she experienced a myriad of racist incidents. She experienced being followed home on occasion.  She knew once was  too many. She noted the Maga (described as a slogan representing American exceptionalism and promoting an idealistic or romanticized American past that excludes certain groups) style confrontations from her across the hall neighbors that prompted her to call her Fisk Alumnae sister then living in Detroit to send her mace for protection. However, Carol is no fool and knew that it was not safe for her to remain, but she remembered what her mother had told her when she was at Lincoln. She considered her time and study, so she stayed through the summer to complete her master’s after which she knew she had to move elsewhere. She decided  that she wasn't going to return there rather she’d remain throughout the summer to complete her master’s per her mother’s words when she wanted to leave Lincoln.  She had chosen to pursue sociology and began seeking the schools that offered the best PhD programs.  

Chicago was considered the home of American sociology, so she began looking for jobs in the field via American Sociologist magazine. She found quite a few in Chicago. That was a perfect fit since University of Chicago had a great  PhD Sociology program . Further her Fisk alumnae sister was living just hours away in Detroit which was four hours from Louisville.  That was the deciding factor  so off to Chicago she would go.

With her plans made she arrived in Chicago for the first time September 1, 1966, and moved into her first residence at the YWCA located at Dearborn and Clark. She hooked up with a friend of her sister’s who was a sociologist working at Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago who recommended that she apply for a job in research department. She did and landed the position.

Her sister’s brother in law  lived in Chicago and opened  his home for her stay until she found an apartment After a short stay at with his family she met her goals. Carol boasts,  “So, within two  month’s time from my initial arrival I had a job and an apartment.”

The Welfare Council did research and policy work for all the private social service agencies in Chicago. At the council her research responsibilities took her to several  areas of the city bringing her together with  Mr. Simon who was situated on the  west side in North Lawndale.  One day Charles Ross who was working on the mayoral campaign of Richard Hatcher mayoral campaign shows up at the office.. Ross informed  us that the Black Social Workers were organizing because they weren’t pleased with their limited voice at all the agencies where they worked. They had no say about policy, decisions etc., anything that was mandated because the agencies were headed by whites and by white boards. There was an agency  that it was the predecessor to the United Way, which expected a monthly donation that was taken directly out of your check, if you worked at a social work agency. You see the connection—their contributions went to support their choices.

That first  meeting was like hitting the people introduction lottery. It was  called by Warner Sanders, Al Raby, Abena Joan Brown  and held at her home. Carol recalls, “I will never forget that meeting. It was the life changing occurrence for me, because I met  so many people, who were major change agents  and advocates for the Black Community like. Useni Perkins, Levert King and Othello Ellis. It was the beginning of everything for me in Chicago.” It was the charge that activated her future, her destiny providing a very clear path in that one moment that began her preparation and acclimatization to Chicago’s Black social-political climate.

That meeting in turn served as the foundation from which the Catalyst emerged, the name being donned by Carol Adams. That group that became the catalyst. The catalyst was made up of all the major social architects  who focused on diversity, human rights, and social justice. As the Catalyst is formalizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated and unrest and turbulence jumped off in the Black neighborhoods. The social service agencies responded negatively towards Black communities, especially on the west side. So, the Catalyst after much deliberation chose to confront the circumstances and refuse to accept the status quo. Taking that stance made them a very strong force of intelligent, educated, skilled knowledgeable people committed to the advancement of Black  people.

By then the Catalyst had grown to include various professions-- teachers, professors, artists, writers, psychologists, lawyers, and those historian heavies like Dr. Anderson Thompson, Dr. Harold Pates, Larry Shaw, ad agency founder and President Vince Cullers.

It was a time when demands were being made from kidnappers to Blacks so the Catalyst prepared its list of ‘demands. Vince Cullers designed a striking black bag  in which the telegram would be presented. All Catalyst members sent telegrams to their bosses directing them to go to the Afro Arts Theater for a meeting with their Black employees. It was an opportunity for me to observe and learn from all the people I’ve mentioned who became iconic figures in Chicago’s Black leadership; to serve when asked while getting to know them. I witnessed their thought processes, organizing skills, and their attention to detail and pursuit of excellence.

I watched them work together as a team; I learned from them. They were audacious, very bold. Abena pointed out that signing the name of the organization would be considered as an anonymous note and would garner no response. She advocated that they needed to know that there were Catalyst’s members at their agencies. Details, details we had to think of everything. To avoid being fired for taking time off without permission it was determined that the day they received the telegrams, at lunchtime  each Catalyst member would inform the head of their department and identify themself  as a member of Catalyst.

We assumed that they couldn't fire every Black person that works in the agency. And we thought that we had critical mass, right?  Carol asks?

Carol divulges that interestingly many of the heads of these agencies, white male lead and they had Black secretaries. They  served as the group’s communications line. They kept them informed  from the inside out They reported back to us the response to the letters.  She says, “Surprisingly nobody got fired, and the meeting took place. And we presented our black bag.”

She continues,  about “This is why the name of my book about the Catalyst is “Our Black Bag,” and the bag told presented  how they  intended to work going forward. We literally declared that we no longer worked for them, that we worked for our community, that we were no longer going to participate in,  that United Way precursor paying into fund that never served our interests . We listed, how we felt and how we were going to work, how we're going to operate from then on. From that strategic move  our organization grew and grew.  

From that point on we met every Saturday at Parkway community house on 67th in the theater, and people would come down who had issues on their job. I mean, I can remember one meeting, a guy came because he was working for Cook County Hospital, and he couldn't wear dashiki to work? And we went to the job.”  

The point is that the relevance to the issues in the context of the moment is the are key. You can’t open the door without that understanding. It was important that that brother knew that he had ears listening and that the people were there for them.  Carol says , “So, we did things all the way from that small to something huge, like bird of the iron feather got it when they were trying to get that on TV. And but this time, you know, we know Oscar Brown, he’s involved. Everybody's involved because of the first all Black Soap Opera.  We went to WTTW to demand that Bird of the Iron Feather,” be aired.  “Bird of the Iron Feather” became the highest-rated local show ever broadcast by WTTW-TV in Chicago. Life noted in April 1970 that ratings for the series were "high enough to have assured the series syndication by at least 40 educational stations around the country this year." Lee Bey of WBEZ described “Bird of the Iron Feather”as an unflinching look at the harsh realities of ghetto life. Calling the show "television's first attempt to portray life in the Black ghetto as it is actually lived," Life also described it as "an authentic, controversial portrayal of Black ghetto life" and praised its "gutsy reality that is missing from white-washed Black-life shows like Julia.".  

At some point after the WTTW move the Catalyst took over the United Way Annual meeting. They awaited there with their respective agencies, seated at tables, when the speakers were to begin that segment, our men rise and walk to the stage, as the women all stand up at our tables. Then again our Black men, speak our demands to that audience apprising them that we're no longer going to participate with them unless they place some Black people in decision making positions .

Jerome Stevenson became  the first Black head of the United Way in the 1980’s.

The most important think is that the Catalyst had become a think tank that put the thinking to action. As Carol says, it got stronger and grew as an organization.  The Chicago heavy hitters of social change got involved like Lou Palmer and Georgia Palmer and the organization grew stronger increasing its  ability to wield more and more influence. Carol pauses and smiles as she speaks her next words,  “It was the organization that people looked to when they wanted to elevate Black people into different spaces and places.  It was from that standpoint that we backed people and they catapulted to higher ground, like Warner Saunders who left as executive Director the Better Boys Foundation(filled by Useni Perkins) to join WBBM as Director of Community Affairs, host of Common Ground, Frank Bacon Frank Bacon, who was  a catalyst member, gets the Corporate Affairs position at Sears.; Chuck Curry, also a catalyst member gets the Corporate Affairs position at Quaker, oats and so on.  And there’s so many stories like that. But you get the drift.  

In retrospect Catalyst acted as old money power and influence for Black Folks because Blacks had none of that in the places and spaces we aspired to. It was also a training ground for Black Folks to learn organizational skills, knowledge ad understanding of how business works, corporate, nonprofit, and the philanthropic. Learning the culture of each and how to navigate it whereas the wealthy often found themselves growing up in the business and was therefore exposed to so much  including the inner workings of the business practices but also the culture of the wealthy.

Carol acknowledges that it was  foundation for those rooted in Blackness and a love for Black people and their culture. It was the pursuit  of a commitment to elevate and advance the growth and development of the people. If it had a principle one might say that it was “Know Thy Self” in the context of the collective.

The year 1970 rolls in and Carol enrolls into U of C’s Sociology PhD program  because they were recruiting students and granted her a fellowship. As a stipulation they did not want you to  work at all.  But Carol reveals  that she accepted a teaching position and taught her first class at Cranes, in African American Studies class that was also a game changer another milestone in her life. In walks  her  first class of students, which included  Henry English Calvin Cook and others . These guys were fresh out of the military  and very grown. Some of them were older than her. She reminds us, “I had graduated from college very young, by 21. So, teaching grown men who had more to teach me about life, yet I was teaching them. I was immersed in many things and a lot of  activism was emerging. The  Black Panther Party was evolving, and my students were joining as members. That's when they decided, ‘hey, this school should be named Malcolm X, so they advocated and worked to change the name of the school to Malcolm X.”

All this and she did as she continued  to do research work at I'm in the research work at the Welfare Council, because she really likes researching. During this time  Northeastern University  opens  the Center for Inner city Studies on the South Side at 39^th and Oakwood. She heard about  a job opportunity at the and applied for the job and gets the job which was the third big game changer in her.  There at the Center for Inner City Studies she met another level of brilliant people.   She says, “So between the Catalyst and the CICS, my total political consciousness is elevated and developed.”  To her surprise folks like historian Anderson Thompson, was teaching  while Larry Shaw and Vince Cullers were designing their teaching presentations.

And all those Black women who worked at the different YWCA branches throughout the city was the strategic plan executed by the ultimate organizer, Doris Wilson who worked for the National and Metropolitan Chicago YWCAs. She pushed to secure public support for quality day care. More significant is mentoring of the Black women around her. They were in the catalyst too. The Chicago staff had a way of when they went to national meetings exuding their intentional outcomes and their energy would just dominate and take over because they were assertive . The movement or goal to eliminate racism became the goal of the YWCA. They didn't think of that independently but rather it was a Doris Wilson move. It was  at a YWCA National meeting that the reason why the elimination of racism became the goal of the YWCA emerged from was due to Chicago’s Doris  Wilson .

Carol pauses to point out that these people who are mentors, teachers, comrades and  friends were brilliant people who studied, read, planned  and wrote. They came together to discuss papers and books. We read books together. We discussed them. And  Lou Palmer started Lou's Book, Shelf.  Everybody would read the same books and then discuss it. I can remember discussing with Harold Pates and Andy Thompson and the Prices of the Negro Intellectual repeatedly, we dissected the book. And when we leave the meetings, we go to the Queen of the sea and continue this discussion. “

Listening to Carol you get the sense that People were engaged in the pursuit of knowledge and information to be the actual meaning of informed. People wanted to know what they were talking about; what was the pass  and how it impacts us now?  There’s a sense of wanting to be grounded or enriched in the truth as it matters as facts. Today we are witnessing a shift in how information is used to misinform or tell stories that literally shapeshift the reality right in front of you. Such behavior would have cancelled out the now famous debate between James Baldwin  and such William F. Buckley over race in America.  

Grasping that concept of grounding your perspective, Carol says, “So, people weren't just up and randomly doing things, you know. When consider, look at research you discover that the Black Panther Party, were young people who read, studied and attempted to apply the reality of the knowledge gained to their lives. “

The point Dr. Carol Adams today makes is that the misguidance of our youth and the failure to properly educate or even teach them how to seek out information is tragic but not a death sentence. We must never stop in the pursuit if truths as the facts support them. Fantasy will come to pass, and the reality will set in.

But back to the younger Carol Adams was at beginning  of her doctoral degree.  Suddenly she faced a crisis of philosophies  … the brilliance and prestige of University of Chicago’s esteemed academia world acknowledgement and the not so known African centered brilliance that was emerging on Campuses across the country and world that encompassed both the intelligence and pursuit of information of the U of C path buy lacked its prestige on the Academic world stage created a social emotional push or pull crisis for Carol between her Northeastern University of Illinois’ Center for Inner City studies experience where the exploration of and examination of looking at scholarship in a new way presented a conundrum     she notes that the U of C  academia leadership was locked into old school thinking while Northeaster’s CICS offered the exciting untraveled territory engaging in the study of history’s impact on Blacks and our past impact on history.  

Carol then made up her mind that she was exiting from Northwestern and met with the Morris Janowitz chairmanship of the Sociology Department, he asked me not to leave since the number of Blacks at U Of C had dwindled since the days of Horace R. Cayton, E franklin  Frazier and Allison Davis, so he shared information that he hoped will influence my decision. Next he bloated it out, “Horace R. Cayton is here to do some research. And he will need a research assistant. Carol still stuck on the name asks, “Black Metropolis,” Horace Cayton and St. Clair Drake ?” And he said, “Yes, Go out on the bulletin board for the announcement. You can contact him if you want to apply for it. The rest is history, She found his notice, called him from the school phone booth, he answered, and said to meet him at his office right away.  When they met up Mr. Cayton says to Carol, “I’ve been waiting on you.”

I said, What do you mean? He responded , Everybody that’s been here  have been white?”

Honestly what was the surprise? And Dr. Gloria Bacon, a physician was the other Black student in the sociology department.

The two it hit off and as Carol states, “ I became his research assistant, putting me  on an entirely different level of learning in Chicago and opened the doors to a different level of people to meet because of him and his experience during the Chicago heyday. While working  with him she’d chauffer him and from the different places they had to go. She on the other hand  was recording, taking notes, and meeting with the most exciting people in some very interesting places.. Inquisitive and frustrated he inquired, “Where are the materials that they studied, that they developed for them?”

I explain that I'm working on the WPA, and that the materials are at the library, totally kept uncared for, un cataloged, stashed in some boxes.  He couldn't believe that they had been treated in that way. Finally, I disclose that I was teaching at Northeastern ‘research’ and that I had students who needed master's thesis ideas, students that know how to do research. I offered to catalog the materials as part of my students portfolio. He said  that he’d love to see that happen.”

To do so we needed to get permission  I said, Well, we got to get permission to allow my graduate students access in the library . All the students were accomplished and committed to the community. Their enrollment  at CICS, required that they  wanted to do your work in the Black community or in the inner city. Permission was granted and the students from the Center for Inner City Studies were the first to begin to inventory and catalog all those materials that became the beginning of the Vivian Harsh Collection.  

On a mission and having to make choices when a course at U of C conflicted with the class she taught at CICS, so Carol ended up leaving U of C but not without having gained a myriad of experience, exposure to things and people of importance.  

During that juncture the concept of ‘Union Graduate school’ emerged out of Antioch in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The program allowed you to make up your own curriculum and choose with whom you chose to study.  Carol says,  “I began  studying with people in Chicago, and I convened my dissertation committee.  

It was a richly textured time. Carol continued her work at CICS and by then Conrad Worrill who was an Abena Joan Brown mentee had joined the CICS reflecting that those who come from the same spheres of influence seemingly came together based on academic interest  and commitment to community. ‍

The Catalyst

The Catalyst impacted my life so completely and thoroughly. It directly effected my thinking. My perspective became razor sharp because, and I never looked at things the same again. That mindset transformation was the foundation for revisioning or what is coined today as reimagining. That’s what we were doing As part of the Neighborhood Institute working with Milton Davis  at South Shore Bank. Out of that relationship we envisioned a new face on 7ist and that’s when ‘One of A Kind’ Boutique, Zambezi and other such fabulous shops popped up for business with the assistance of Bob Pages vision and Milton’s financial assistance.  

You were the curator of the Everyday Art Festival, how did that come about?  Carol says, I recall that it was during the Bicentennial celebration, so I wrote a grant and organized the music and arts festival at the SouthShore Country Club which grew when Geraldine De Hass took on the music entertainment showcasing the likes of Ahmal Jamal and Mc Coy Tyner.

So much was going on because it was evolving, and door never stopped turning and one thing flowed into or one from another to another. That’s how it was. So, while Carol was immersed in the Catalyst Jacob Jennings brought an opportunity to her  to tackle.  The organization had created a Skills bank as a research tool. The word was out bout the work that the Catalyst did, and Jacob facilitated the opportunity for her to write a study on the State of Higher Education in Illinois  requested by Senator Richard Newhouse. And she did it.  Out of that she learned that incarcerated Black women were the worse off and most deprived of all things. Then the unexpected as it always flowed in Carol’s life happened   amidst a conversation with Claudia Mc Cormick who responded to Carols share about a proposal she had written for the women in prison.  

“I’m about to be the new warden of the new warden of the new women's jail.  , let me get you with Winston Webster the main warden. I’d  love to be able to go in there with a program like yours. They are opening the new building, and division four building is for the women.” She said, to be able to have a program like that at the beginning, when we start, would be fantastic.”

And we did. Got the money. We got the program, we enrolled. We had all kinds of things happening at that women's jail. We had everything from GED to Aza Hapi teaching yoga, Abena Joan Brown taught theater. Nikki Giovanni held a poetry workshop with the women at the Cook County Jail. and they wrote and published a poetry book  under Walter Bradford’s  tutelage, “Lyrics of Locked up Ladies.” And T.L. Barret led a gospel choir. There was so much more.

Carol admits for me, “Chicago's always been an opportunity think it and do it. What it means is “If you can think it, you can do it. If you can conceive it, you can achieve it up in here”  

The there was the reality that we were all working.  In the meantime, we have the babies but no schools 's to teach and mol them as we want them to me taught , so we created  our own. There was Shule Watoto, The Institute of Positive Education’s School, and ours Ujima all which began with a thought. A member then took it to task, and we had schools.  

The interesting tie that bound us every time was the Catalyst. It was made up of all kinds of Black professionals who understood the power and necessity for inner support and the Catalyst was that. Each group or individual introduced a whole new set of ideas and philosophies that are from Black people of different disciplines and professions. It was our nature our intention to help one another achieve their goals and contribute to our own. That’s what we did time and time again.” What I heard her say in short was “We were our ‘we know people.”  

Together the Catalyst and the CICS gave her everything she needed to address be a leader in the world community. She says with fondness the challenge  is to describe the phenomena of the two.  It’s like explaining  that everything is not everything, but everything is happening at the same, at the same time.  I'm saying everything is  always going on. So, it's evolving, and though the institutions remain constant there's a changing taking place with certain people at the center; certain people remain at the center, other things are happening and the same goes for the Catalyst . Sometimes they overlap and the interconnection fastens us together to get a certain job done and we do then move on.  

The Catalyst engaged with the American patrol men, the Black firemen, there's the Black parents of workers. Everybody's organizing. It's a key period for us. My observation is , some of us stay engaged constantly creating the consistency  You know, we'll start today doing something intentional like  attending Operation Breadbasket, then go to the Catalyst meeting at noon, from there go to Lou's Bookshelf after that. There’s always something else you stay immersed in. You keep  working, and everybody works with everybody else. All these entities somehow were connected and, came together to work together to accomplish the goals.  

Carol describes her job at CHA Chicago Housing Authority as laying the foundation for her stint at HIS. She exclaims that she had fun as the Executive Director where she was able to utilize all her research, people skills and creative instincts to do things differently.  

She says if not for her CHA experience she would not have been prepared for DHS. It was bureaucratic and political, and I was neither.

And you get these opportunities through unusual means. Because I never had a desire when I grew up to become  the head of the Department of Human Services.

Speaking of which I was at Malcolm X  for the Kwannza Celebration when I ran into

A young man whom I had  met when as a kid when I worked at CHA. The next day he called me to say I'm so glad I ran into you and Put you on your mind. He was sitting in a meeting g where they were discussing  the need for a Secretary of Human Services,  then says, “you would be perfect.”  Crol says, “I said to myself, that'll never happen.” Not inside my head, he asks,  “Could you apply? Would you send me your stuff? I said, Yeah, I'll send it to you, because I'm thinking, these positions are political, a favor for a favor right?. Next he says “We will need your credentials. They're going to do a background check, and the job  starts on Monday.”  

She ended- up with the job.  Who knew? It certainly was not on her radar or  job protectory.  You know, these are things you can't plan for but have been preparing for your whole life.” You could not have predicted a series of coincidences that somebody says, Oh, yeah, I like what she did to see in case she could do this job, and the community would trust that. I loved the Center for Inner City Studies. I like being there and being back there was great for me.  

She turned down the job offer which brought one of the CHA Officers with whom I worked  who came to talk me into accepting the position.   She sold me when he said   Doc, I hear you turn down this job. He said, You cannot do it. Let me tell you how many people that are involved, and what it provides tour people at that point is 18,000 jobs and $5 billion right?

‘Think of the people you could affect doing the work. You got to take this. We have never had anybody like you in a job like this, anybody with your background and your politics nobody like you has been in the position. It’s always the bureaucrats that sits in that seat. That gave me a hares that when she needed specific advice about how to deal within the political parameter’s strategically she called on her catalyst members and one woman more than others because that was her area of expertise.

A different Catalyst occurred because it changed. The organization changed and got smaller over the years, the more Afrocentric it became as people started moving around. Listening to Carol it appears  that he generation that had started it all was settling in growing older and what  and who they had put in place shifted. What was once very visible went dormant  and waited for the right time to raise its head.  The peace seemed nice.

Carol mentions that Abena Joan Brown was teaching at Mundelein College and began traveling to Africa, taking her students as part of the course. . Carol says  we followed those things, that make sense so when zi taught at Loyola I  incorporated a trip to Jamaica for my student.  So, we are always learning  and or teaching amongst ourselves.

Winding down Carol you must share your  House of Blues experience and the DuSable Museum Directorship.

Carol tells me that she was at  CHA having a great time. She really loved the job and was glad that she had agreed to step into he position  one of her co-workers Gil Walker ran the midnight basketball program and was involved with the inner city games, a project of Arnold Schwarzenegger. At the same time, the House of Blues is getting ready to expand and open a club in Chicago. Co-founder by Isaac Tigrett  who was philanthropic, and h wanted people to understand that he believed in doing good. He came to Chicago  to demonstrate what they were all about doing good in the world. He attracts local investors for the house Blues in  Chicago, and he asked them, what was the cause that they might be interested in supporting, that the House of Blues could do fundraising event. And one of these investors involved in the Inner City Games suggested them.   Tigrett  accepts and the Inner City Games are  coming to Chicago. Its CHA driven so they asked for a meeting. We meet and they agree to host a golf outing from which al the proceeds will go to the Inner City Games.

We were happy and excited. Then they say, “it's going to cost $10,000 to play.” We ask play what? We didn’t  know anybody at the time who could pay $10,000 to pay golf. That was in the early 90’s, that was really a lot. You don't have to worry about that. We got the people who will pay the $10,000 to pay golf. He said, You just worry about the organization that's going to get it. You all be there, be able to demonstrate what you will do with the award. So prepared our presentation. As expected the event was held at a very exclusive golf club. It was a favorite of Michael Jordan. I'd never seen a place that luxurious.. They flew in people to play. Fred Williamson was present along with numerous others from corporations, paying that $10,000 per player.  I find myself  in the process, I get to know the House of Blues people, the folks who come into t sort things t, because I'm organizing our piece. Well, I was  so excited at what they were doing for us. During our conversation, learn more about them and what they want to do.  At some point  Nigel, from the House of Blue, says, ‘Who should I talk to about finding out what's going on the cultural scene in Chicago? Because we want to get involved in that.” One of their team says, “That lady right over there pointing at me, followed with  “Go see Carol Adams, the person you've been working with. She knows everything that's going on the cultural scene in Chicago.”

So, long story short, because he asked me, I prepared something for him, I said, let me just get something ready for you. And you know me. I'm a researcher, so I'm very organized in my approach.  I prepared  a binder that showed him, what's happening everywhere in Chicago from s the schools to the lakefront;  who you need to contact; this and that and the other. The next week, I delivered it  to him with a note and say, ‘Thank you so much for everything you did for us. Hope this will help you.” He called me immediately and asks, “Are you looking for a job?” I said, “Absolutely not.” He said, Well, I would love to have we need somebody to head the House of Blues Foundation in Chicago. Are you interested? I said, “No, I'm not. You know, I like what I'm doing. I'm working at CHA I'm loving it. Vince, Lane, allowed me latitude to do what I needed to get done there, because we came out of the same Milton Davis group and all that. Anyway, Nigel says, at least do an interview. So, interview. And Isaac Tigrett interviewed me because Nigel  figured if he couldn't convince me, let the big boss, who was known to be very persuasive, let him interview me. We meet each other. We have interesting, similar backgrounds. I'm from Kentucky, went to college in Tennessee. He's from Tennessee, went to college in Kentucky.

He went to a school that few people knew about, but I knew the cost of Presbyterians, just all but shit happens where we click, right?  He says, Listen, I understand. You know everything about Chicago and people, everybody's telling me they need you to be this. You know, you need to be the head of House of  Blues Foundation in Chicago. I said, “Tell me what it entails.” No, that's nothing that I would be interested in doing,” I said, that's way too small for me. I said, the thing that I'm involved in now involves a lot of people's lives and opportunities for them. I said, this thing with public housing is very important, and I like it, and I'm going to stick with that. He says, “All right,” then he returns, with a new offer, “What if you were the head of the International House of Blues foundation?” I said, now you're talking and so that's how it happened. It happened from CHA so that that's again, when I talk to kids, I always say, be open to possibilities. But always do what you love and do what you believe in.  

I've been lucky in terms of the people that I was able to work for, because they would let me realize the vision, right?

I stayed with them until  Issac Tigrett lost control to corporate and were no longer  who they were anymore.  

Re-Entry Into the Chicago Mix

Although I had spent only one weekly monthly in LA I still didn’t feel completely immersed  in Chicago like I had been. Conrad and Bob Starks, Andy Thompson,  three people from the city who called on to come back to the CICS. They were just getting ready to have a vacancy for the head of the Center, and because I knew it and loved it, and was good at raising money asked would I consider being the candidate for that position? And I said, Yes. Was very excited about it. I applied for it. They could recommend me but not hire me, because there was a board or this or that, and there was a whole process. We  went through that process, including the community portion, and I will never forget it, because Reverend Al Sampson sides of town South and on the North side, to listen to what the community had to say. And he said, Listen, I know that you all make the decision. He said, But you can see what Dr Carol Adams is bringing to the situation. If you all even think of hiring somebody other than her, they better have a whole lot.  I got the job. They wanted to give me a big welcome event at the center. And I said, No, wait a year. I said, “Let me, let's get started and then do the welcome in the year, when I get things I can point to that have happened during that year. That's right, and that's what we did. So, I have a great photo of me, Conrad, Harold, Page and Barack Obama, who was against the senator at that time.

I was  at DHS, and when we elected a new governor. It was expected that the new governor would want to pick his own DHS person, but it would be hard for him to get rid of me, because I was very popular. However, I had always wanted to go to Africa to work. The position I wanted  had not been activated in sometime. They had not talked about it since it was created by the previous governor and filled by Monica Faith Stuart. But under the then current the governor nothing really happened. They never, replaced anybody. So, I said,  maybe I can make this work for me. I chose to  parlay the desired position to go to Africa with Governor Quinn on board, I would  be on my way to South Africa. The Governor had selected somebody he wanted to bring in at DHS anyway. However, the more I looked at my job circumstances I realized that they had moved me way down on the totem pole. I got a cabinet position, and yet I'm where line is directly down so many people to the Governor. Next I ask about my staff. Now, mind you, I have streamlined DHS from 18 to 15,000 people, right? Okay, guess how many people they ‘had given me for my new job? One. Just one staff member.

In the meantime, a search firm had contacted me about the DuSable Museum job, yeah, and I had told them no, because I was going to Africa.  I remember the night that I slept and awakened with this notion that I wasn't going to Africa after all.  

With my head back in the game to consider and go for the DuSable Museum,  position. Carol was excited. And to be in a place started by Margaret Burroughs made it more intriguing and meaningful. As the Executive Director Dr. Carol Adams says that it was her pleasure to rejuvenate interest  in the DuSable. She was able to build the interest of many by hosting Jazz on the lawn and creating a family picnic feel.

She also revitalized the trips that Dr. Burroughs planned taking groups of patrons of the museum to countries/  like Mexico, Cuba and the African Continent. So, when we had the exhibition, the African presence in Mexico, we took a delegation, anybody that wanted to, they could pay and go. We went to Mexico and went to these cities, and they were able to experience the Black presence in Mexico. So, during her tenure there Dr. Adams she took a group to Cuba in much the same way that Dr. Burroughs had. In fact. Dr Adams used the same travel agent  and the same lady that always traveled with Dr. Burroughs who was unable to make the trip. It was exciting for all.