A housing boom in the Bronzeville neighborhood that is welcoming multi-ethnic families to the area has led to an all-Black Catholic school opening its doors to white and Hispanic students for the first time. Holy Angels school, 750 E. 40th St., has been a
“We are actively recruiting at nursery schools in the area where a lot of kids are white and Hispanic,” said Shirley DeSadier, principal at Holy Angels. “Our hope is to bring new students in this fall for kindergarten.” When the Chicago Housing Authority demolished all of its high-rise buildings in Bronzeville, the school’s enrollment dropped.
“In 2005 when I first started as principal Holy Angels had 565 students. Today, there are 250. A lot of our students who were living in public housing, have since moved out the area,” said DeSadier. Those buildings have been replaced by new townhomes and condominiums with a limited number of apartments for returning CHA residents and low-income families.
Many of the properties sell for $250,000 or more. At these prices many Black families have relocated to other parts of the city and have been replaced by white families, said DeSadier. “Families living in Bronzeville today are white, not Black, and Holy Angels is the only private elementary school within a two-mile radius, so we expect some transfers to take place,” she added.
Local residents, as well as Holy Angels parents and alumni have mixed reactions to the school recruiting outside the Black community. “I’m sorry but something about white kids walking through the halls of Holy Angels just don’t sit well with me,” said Ronda McCary, a Holy Angels parent and 1983 graduate of the school.
“That school has meant so much to the Black community and to see it lost to whites is a tragedy.” Other community residents think otherwise though. “Bronzeville is no longer a Black community. It is a lot like the Hyde Park community where middle-income families of all races reside.
I think there are some people who cannot accept that Bronzeville has changed and that change means whites and Hispanics have become our neighbors,” said Larry Hubbard, who lives around the corner from Holy Angles in the 3900 block of Oakwood Boulevard. “Holy Angels is one of the cheapest, private elementary schools in Chicago at $2,800 a year,” DeSadier said.
The school is currently competing with charter schools that often have a curriculum similar to private schools.
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