In 1937, the federal Chicago Recreational Survey marked the southern section of a beach at the Forest Preserves’ Sauk Trail Lake as “Whites Only.” After Forest Preserves staff was made aware of this shocking fact in 2023, we asked Professor Theodore Karamanski of Loyola University to lead a research project to learn more. 

The resulting report, “Historical Review of Racial Segregation of African Americans in the Forest Preserves of Cook County,” is now complete and paints a complex picture. Segregation of African Americans at Forest Preserves swimming facilities was an established procedure in the 1930s, for example, yet some summer camps in the Forest Preserves during this period were at the forefront of racially integrated outdoor activities for youth. 

Cook County Forest Preserves Commissioner Donna Miller’s family had first-hand experience with racist policies connected to Forest Preserves amenities in this era. Her great-grandmother, Anna Mae Robinson, a professional golfer and leading advocate for women and for African Americans in the sport, had been denied access to Pipe O’Peace Golf Course in Riverdale, even after the Forest Preserves acquired the course in 1948. (The Forest Preserves renamed the site Joe Louis “The Champ” Golf Course in 1989 to honor the boxer’s own role in racial integration in golfing). 

As part of Black History Month, we spoke with Commissioner Miller and Professor Karamanski about segregation right here in Cook County, what it took to change those policies, and what comes next. The discussion has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

Forest Preserves: Commissioner Miller, could you talk a little bit about what your great grandmother encountered as an African American golfer? 

Commissioner Miller: For the Pipe O’ Peace Golf Course, she had to repeatedly petition Cook County for golfing privileges. And it later became the official tournament site for the Chicago Women’s Golf Club. 

Forest Preserves: Did she ever talk about this experience with you? What were her recollections of trying to make that change? 

Commissioner Miller: She just kind of skirted over it, like, “Oh, it happened.” It wasn’t until I read about it myself that I realized the impact and all the work to make it happen. She was the founder of the Chicago Women’s Golf Club, which still exists today. It’s an African American golf club, but it teaches all women and all children about golf. In the Chicago Women’s Hall of Fame for golf, they have a piece in a book about African American golfers and her experience.

Professor Karamanski: What year did she first attempt to do this? 

Commissioner Miller: I believe it was like 1937. And then it continued on through 1952. 

Forest Preserves: When we hear about the history of racial segregation—especially official, sanctioned segregation—people might think of something like the Jim Crow South. Prof. Karamanski, as a historian, did you expect what you found out about the Forest Preserves of Cook County? 

Professor Karamanski: I remember growing up that there would be racial clashes in the Forest Preserves, like in the Palos Preserves. Often, if it was a warm Memorial Day, gangs of white kids would try to stake out territory to keep African Americans out. It’s just such a history of segregation in Chicago that I wasn’t totally surprised once we got into it. 

The history of swimming facilities, that’s the last line of racism in facilities management. At first they only wanted men to swim. And then women can swim but it’s only women. Then they let the genders swim together. But boy, was there resistance to let African Americans swim with white kids. I certainly also remember growing up that this would cause tensions in places like the Gage Park or Sherman Park pools in the City of Chicago. 

Forest Preserves: You document that segregation at swimming facilities and beaches in the Forest Preserves but also document summer camps by churches, Boy Scout Troops, and the YWCA for both Black and white kids, which was rare for the era. Was it strange to have both those things happening at the same time? 

Professor Karamanski: I think what it gets to was, who’s managing the place on the ground, as opposed to policies that are being set on a countywide level. At the golf course it could be that they thought they were running the course according to the standards of that time. There was also significant integration of facilities in the 1930s. We have plenty of pictures of [Black and white] kids getting along just fine. But it was always where the Forest Preserves could have adult supervision. 

At the Sauk Trail Lake facility, there was that one sign that said “Whites Only.” Well, there was another sign at the north end of the lake. It said, “Colored Only.” Cap Sauers, [the Forest Preserves general superintendent], basically said, “Look, we did this just to stop fighting. We consulted with parents and people [in the surrounding community], and this is what they suggested.” 

Commissioner Miller: It’s not surprising that this history exists, I think. But what is to be commended is the work that the Forest Preserves does and did even then to uplift. It is important to have a historical reference that goes back decades and decades. It sets the tone for how we should move forward, especially in the environment that we’re in on a national level. Because as people keep moving forward with erasing history, these are the kind of things that they’ll want to erase, like it never happened. 

It is like the professor’s personal recollection: In time people won’t have that type of memory. We need to be able to corroborate it and say, “It actually did happen. Here are the pictures. Here’s the story. This is how we’ve evolved.” 

That’s why I keep my own family history alive with whoever wants to listen. Even when I would tell people my great grandmother was a professional golfer, they’re like, “No, no she wasn’t.” I’m like, “Yeah, yep. She was. It’s true, and it’s documented somewhere. It’s not just a tale at storytime in my family.” 

Forest Preserves: The fact that your great grandmother repeatedly went to the Board to change things. Was that a seed of wanting to be a Commissioner yourself and have the ability to impact policies? 

Commissioner Miller: I didn’t know it until after [I was elected]. It was a huge revelation. And everyone in my family, we keep saying she would have been just so proud to know that her great-granddaughter is sitting on the same Board that she had to petition. Unimaginable, probably.