Robert L. Woodson Sr., President, Fax #202-296-1541, Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996
Dear Chancellor Broski,
The story of Chicago's Maxwell Street was an important chapter in the continuing struggle of low-income individuals throughout the history of our nation. Maxwell Street is a monument to American free enterprise and the barriers to it.
Market vending has historically been a stepping stone to economic independence. Even during the days of slavery, white landowners allowed their slaves to maintain small gardens of their own, from which, every Sunday, they would harvest their produce and sell it in town in makeshift markets. A number of slaves eventually were able to purchase their freedom through this enterprise. In Washington, D.C., a major department store and a popular hardware outlet both had their origins in humble vending carts.
In more than a decade of work with hundreds of grassroots organizations throughout the nation, I have continually witnessed the remarkable power that opportunities for self sufficiency and self determination have had on individuals and their communities. At the same time, I have seen the tragic toll that a continued state of dependency predictably takes. I expect the Maxwell Street Market Historic District and the stories told about it will remind us of the former.
A tragic schizophrenia permeates a policy arena in which stifling regulations are imposed on small businesses and grassroots entrepreneurial ventures, in particular at the same time that discussions of welfare reform and community development focus on the primacy of work. Maxwell Street and its messages of self-help should shed some light on this policy enigma.
Great universities help build great cities and I trust that the University of Illinois at Chicago will be a responsible steward for one of America's great historical treasures, Maxwell Street.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Woodson, Sr., founder and President of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (NCNE) based in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1981, NCNE is a nonprofit organization committed to helping low-income Americans achieve empowerment through the development and application of self-help, market-oriented approaches that are value based.
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