Religion, Civil Rights, and the Ongoing American Transformation
Chicago’s Civil Rights Movement represented the potential power and social impact of faith in action.
The Chicago Theological Seminary conducted the Jackson Oral History Project in 2022 to preserve stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago. Experience firsthand accounts of Operation Breadbasket and Operation PUSH in the 1960s and ’70s.
Mrs. Betty Massoni became involved with the Civil Rights Movement shortly after she and husband, Rev. Gary Massoni, moved into student housing at the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1964. Eventually, Gary helped found Operation Breadbasket with Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. In the 1960s, Betty picketed South Side grocery stores and gathered data on their operations. The hope was to integrate the stores’ workforces and encourage stores to sell products made by local Black-owned companies.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and family’s building (1966-01-24) by Chicago Sun-TimesChicago History Museum
“In Chicago, the big issues were education and housing. And King picked Chicago as the place to come north. And…I sewed curtains for the apartment he moved into.”
—Betty Massoni
Faith and lay leaders holding letters reading “Selma Wall” near Brown Chapel AME during march (1965-03-01) by Declan HaunChicago History Museum
Rev. David Wallace
Rev. David Wallace was one of the founding leaders of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. After graduating from Texas A&M University in 1961, he spent two years in modern day Tanzania as a delegate of the World Student Christian Federation.
He enrolled in the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1963, one year before Revs. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and Gary Massoni. Influenced by his international experiences, Wallace brought a global awareness to the Movement.
Chicago Freedom Movement organizational chart (1966) by UnknownChicago History Museum
“Dr. King said, ‘I got a program for the ministers called Operation Breadbasket.’ … They had picked it up from Rev. Leon Sullivan in Philadelphia who had developed a selective buying campaign…”
—Rev. David Wallace
Operation Breadbasket protest poster urging consumers to boycott Hawthorn-Mellody products (1966) by Ann Gillie and Bennie LuchionChicago History Museum
“[In Operation Breadbasket] we all recognized the same problem. Black Americans were excluded from the economy, and that was the cohesive element.”
—Rev. David Wallace
SCLC and CCCO poster advertising the Chicago Freedom Rally and March (1966) by SCLC-CCCOChicago History Museum
Rev. Martin L. Deppe
In the 1960s, Rev. Martin L. Deppe embraced his calling to address injustices through his ministry at Gresham Methodist Church on Chicago’s South Side. He also worked in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket with many others.
“Chicago had a fledging civil rights organization called CCCO … the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations led by Al Raby, who was a public-school teacher…. So Chicago had its own civil rights organization before King came.”
—Rev. Martin L. Deppe
“Litany of the Human Spirit” by Rev. Martin L. Deppe of First United Methodist Church (1972) by Martin L. DeppeChicago History Museum
“It was part of Dr. King’s vision of the beloved community…. That’s why I was accepted so totally in Breadbasket, because it had this image of being a diverse, interracial group.”
— Rev. Martin Deppe
Jesse Jackson Sr, Clay Evans, Gary, IN, Mayor Richard Hatcher et al. open Operation PUSH Black Expo (09-29-1971) by Chicago Sun-TimesChicago History Museum
Dr. Hermene Hartman
Dr. Hermene Hartman is an activist who got her start as an organizer for Operation Breadbasket. In the 1960s, she helped create the Black Expo, a successful celebration of Black excellence in Chicago.
Her success represents how women in the Civil Rights Movement embraced intersectionality to lead initiatives of Breadbasket, Operation PUSH, and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Early in her career, Hartman recognized the power of media to create change. In 1989, she founded the N’DIGO newspaper, which remains a platform for Black voices.
“I became … a logistics person [at Operation Breadbasket]…. It was 100 people, at all times [on the picket line]…. It was an operation. That’s why it was so successful…. We shut those stores down because it was constant.”
—Dr. Hermene Hartman
Rev. Willie T. Barrow at Operation PUSH headquarters (1974-06-06) by Chicago Sun-TimesChicago History Museum
“Reverend Barrow had at PUSH … the Consumer Club. So, when Jesse said, ‘Let's go march,’ those were Willie’s people marching. [She’d say] ‘I want a hundred women to stand up and go on the line,’ and she got it.”
—Dr. Hermene Hartman
Cecilia Pickens (right) and William Cal of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners at PUSH Expo (1974-09-15) by M. Leon Lopez for Chicago Sun-TimesChicago History Museum
Rev. Dr. Janette C. Wilson
Early in life, Rev. Dr. Janette C. Wilson identified her calling to fight for equality. She found success in the male-dominated fields of law and ministry.
In the 1960s, Wilson attended the Saturday Operation Breadbasket meetings. Later, she began working for Operation PUSH after graduating from law school in the ’80s. She has served as a senior advisor to Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and national executive director of PUSH For Excellence, an organization founded by Rev. Jackson to promote educational success.
West Side interfaith peace march following the police murder of George Floyd (2020-06-20) by Pat Nabong for Chicago Sun-TimesChicago History Museum
“Black Lives Matter started out of a response to violence in America against Black people…. The Civil Rights Movement responded to lynching…. It [also] responded to educational violence, where we could not be educated.
It responded to economic violence, where we couldn’t get jobs and equal pay for equal work.”
—Rev. Dr. Janette C. Wilson
Operation Breadbasket News, The Official Voice of SCLC’s Economic Arm (10-03-1969) by Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceChicago History Museum
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is a renowned civil rights, religious, and political leader, and activist. Jackson enrolled in the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1964.
In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appointed Jackson the director of Operation Breadbasket to fight economic injustice in Chicago. Over many decades, Jackson has led countless social justice movements, as Breadbasket became Operation PUSH and eventually the Rainbow/PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) Coalition. He also has received numerous honors for his work in civil rights and nonviolent social change.
Al Raby, James Bevel, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others (August 18, 1966) by Chicago Sun-TimesChicago History Museum
“Breadbasket was a fundamental movement. We used consumer leverage…. So, Chicago became the space, the model, for opening doors.”
—Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
“At some point, people were saying, ‘Run Jesse, run.’ I was called by God to do that [run for president]. I had no intent to run [originally].”
—Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Special thanks to the following individuals who made this Google Arts & Culture exhibit possible:
Peter T. Alter
Charles E. Bethea
Rebekah Coffman
DePaul University (Autumn 2023) Chicago History Museum Experience class
Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
Tim Frakes Productions
Miranda Kincer
Carolena Melvie Koshgarian Cash
Heidi A. Samuelson
Kim Schultz
Natalie Sinclair
Brian E. Smith
Esther D. Wang
