African Americans have been residents of Oak Park since the late 19th century, but their stories are often overlooked. Some still believe that there were no African Americans in the Village before the arrival of the Percy Julian family. Peggy Tuck Sinko, GS member and president ex officio of the Oak Park-River Forest Historical Society, will highlight some of these stories, with an emphasis on the role of religious leaders and institutions, from the formation of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church by Black residents (1905-1930) to the upheavals of the Civil Rights and Fair Housing movements of the 1960s and 1970s. She is the co-author of Suburban Promised Land: The Emerging Black Community in Oak Park, 1880-1980 (2009).