Northwestern’s Center for Civic Engagement will host a program exploring the work of Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago as an opportunity to celebrate Black History Month.

The program, called “MLK in Chicago: the Fight for Fair Housing,” will take place Saturday.

Participants will explore Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood and other areas of Chicago’s West Side where King lived and worked to achieve fair housing practices in the 1960s. They will also visit the MLK Fair Housing Exhibit Center, 1558 S. Hamlin Ave., which is located on the same street where King lived. There they will have a discussion with SESP Prof. Dan Lewis and community activist Prexy Nesbitt. The event will conclude with a brief reception co-sponsored by Sustained Dialogue.

The program is a part of the center’s NU in Chicago program that seeks to provide students with interactive opportunities to explore different areas of Chicago neighborhoods and the civic resources they offer.

The center is hosting a similar program Feb. 21 to provide graduate students with a social justice history tour examining past and present hubs of social change across Chicago. That event will include an evening gathering of graduate and post-doctoral students at the Chicago History Museum.

The goal of the program is to highlight King’s involvement with the Chicago Freedom Movement and the fight against discriminatory housing practices, the center said. Those involved in the partnership hope to encourage critical thinking about segregation and economic development in Chicago, the center added.

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