Timeline: 1946

The “Tip Tops” converted army barracks called Quonset Huts. After World War II, with the return of servicemen, there was a shortage of housing. These “huts” was one solution. The African American community of Champaign received 20 located along 5th Street between Columbia and Grove Streets. Unlike the ones on the University of Illinois campus, they were for both servicemen families at Chanute and ex-GI’s attending the University of Illinois.

Ike Owens was one of the first African American football stars at the University of Illinois. An artist, he first enrolled in 1940, but his schooling was interrupted by war service. He returned in 1946 and graduated in 1948. He was a First-Team player in the All-Big Nine (1946, 1947) and Second-Team All-American (1947).

March: S-CIC adopted a constitution and its name at Latzer Hall on the University of Illinois campus. Linzey Jones, member of Kappa Alpha Psi, was the first student co-chairman and helped to organize demonstrations for the desegregation of lunch counters and restaurants in C-U. Members of the Student Community Interracial Committee asked campus restauranteurs to sign statements saying they do not discriminate. Six restaurants refused to sign. Following a picketing campaign and a threatened lawsuit, these restaurants agreed to end discrimination against African Americans. Jones later became a successful attorney in Chicago, IL.

The American Veterans Committee passes a resolution in March stating its opposition to racial discrimination in restaurants and public places.

July 23: A cross was burned at Lawhead School, 408 East Grove St., Champaign, IL. That same evening a cross was also burnt at the home of the World War veteran and war hero Cecil D. Nelson. The two cross burnings was contributed to Mr. Nelson getting the job of janitor at the school.

Douglass Center was completed. Taylor Thomas was listed as its first director.