Black History Month: What was the People Who Care lawsuit?

Rockford Register Star staff

How much do you know about Rockford's Black history? In celebration and recognition of Black History Month, the Rockford Register Star has partnered with the Rockford Public Library's Local History Room to bring our readers a local Black history fact of the day.

Visit rrstar.com or the Rockford Register Star newspaper each day throughout the month of February to read about the people, places and events that played significant roles in shaping the rich fabric of Rockford's Black history.

Ed Wells stands Monday, Feb. 23, 2009, outside the Booker Washington Center in Rockford. Wells was part of the People Who Care group who held their first meeting at the center twenty years ago.
Ed Wells stands Monday, Feb. 23, 2009, outside the Booker Washington Center in Rockford. Wells was part of the People Who Care group who held their first meeting at the center twenty years ago.

A group of minority residents determined to end discriminatory practices in Rockford Public Schools filed the "People Who Care" lawsuit in federal court in May 1989. The suit ultimately resulted in a guilty verdict and a scathing ruling by Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney.

"It is the story of a school district that, at times, has committed such open acts of discrimination as to be cruel and committed others with such subtlety as to raise discrimination to an art form," Mahoney wrote in his opinion.

Want to learn more about the People Who Care lawsuit? Visit the Rockford Public Library's Local History Room at rockfordpubliclibrary.org/local-history or in person at the Hart Interim Library, 214 N. Church St.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Black History Month: What was the People Who Care lawsuit?