Timeline: 1969
The Frances Nelson Children’s House at 1306 N. Carver Drive in Champaign, IL, becomes the Frances Nelson Health Care Center.
Delta Rho Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority is chartered at the University of Illinois.
African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign originated as the academic branch of the Faculty Student Commission on Afro-American Life and Culture. The Afro-American Cultural Center opened.
Late 1960s: The establishment of the Champaign-Urbana Athletics Club a boxing club organized by Khair Aazaad Ali (Freddie Davis) with the help of Anderson Epps. Anderson Epps was a former Golden Glove boxer as was Khair Aazaad Ali who ended his boxing career with 99 wins. The club ran through the early 1970s.
Late 1960s: Champaign-Urbana Days began. No one remembers the exact start date of CU Days however its vestiges started in the late 1960s as a homecoming picnic and celebration for the “older” families of the African American community. It was first organized by World War II veteran Marvin Starks, his wife Birdie, and Marshall Britt at Douglass Park. It then went to the Lake of the Woods in Mahomet, IL, sponsored by the men of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity. It returned to Douglass Park in the mid 1970s. As the event grew, the men asked assistance from the Champaign Park District which has sponsored it for the last 48 years. Today it has evolved into a Back-to-School and community service event.