69 year old Maxwell Street Bluesman Jimmie Lee Robinson will be starting a hunger fast on Friday, August 18 to save the old Maxwell Street area from the final blows of the wrecking ball. Mr. Robinson is a life-long student of religions and natural health systems. Below is his statement of why he is going on this fast.

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"It feels like the UIC has cut off one of my hands and one of my feet. Maxwell Street was my home and where my first morality battles began, and there was no one with me but my God. We was all alone. From this came my purpose and my skills."

"In 1930 was when I went with my Great Grandfather Mr. Mose Jenkins and my Grandmother hand in hand on Maxwell Street. . Mose Jenkins was a former slave and later lived near and around a small place called Hillhouse Mississippi. I learned to play Blues from my Uncle, One Leg Sam, and Moody Jones. Later on came Snooky Pryors and Homesick James, and also Floyd Jones. They was there, and great they was."

"There is over 40 historic buildings left. With the help and the Power of God we will not let the UIC destroy them. I will fast until Washington D.C. puts Maxwell Street on the National Register."

"This is a Spiritual and a Moral Battle. Moral Purity will always win out. I've withdrawn from eating any food. This is the way that God purifies me to take on this battle that He may come to our aid."

"Maxwell Street was a holy place. It was sanctified by the Jewish people and many Blues and Gospel musicians and preachers of every religion. Just like our bodies is the Temple of our Soul, these old buildings remaining on Maxwell Street and on Halsted Street are the temples of the Souls of Chicago Past. The aura of the past is still in these buildings."

"This place, and these buildings should be the beginning of a Super Natural Health Morality Institution of Learning. And it should be spread all over the world from the UIC. Our music, our life styles, and our philosophies are in need of a major change for better understanding, that the world may be saved in inner and outer space."

"UIC you could be doing a great and a beautiful job, and with this program you can be the world's greatest. We should not let anything or anyone come into our neighborhoods and totally destroy our history, for this is a crime within itself."

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Robinson met the now legendary singer/guitarist Eddie Taylor and they played the Chicago club scene until 1952. Later, he played with Freddie King and Frank Scott Jr. in a band called "The Every Hour Blues Boys," and would go on to share the stage with Little Walter, B.B. King, and other Blues legends.

Robinson is a member of Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition and wrote their anthem song, the Maxwell Street Tear Down Blues.

Most of Jimmie Lee's family came from around Hillhouse, Mississippi. His Grandmother's brothers, Eddie Jenkin and George Jenkin, died in Hillhouse. His Uncle Ed's son Joe Jenkin died in Chicago but his wife still lives. She is about 95 years old now. Her name is Annie Mae Jenkin. She lived on 910 or 912 Maxwell St with his cousin Della and Arthur Jenkin.

Jimmie Lee remembers walking with his Great Grandfather and Grandfather and Grandmother on Maxwell Street. "My Grandmother's name was, Celia 'Little Mama' Jackson and she was a follower of the Marcus Garvey Movement, Div 217. She was in the Black Star Line protests . Jimmie's mother Emma had a close friend, Jack Palmer, who was friends with Paul Robeson." It is these influences that have created Jimmie Lee's social justice concern.

Mr. Robinson did a protest fast in 1998 for 62 days to protest actions taken against Maxwell Street. Says Robinson, "That seemed to turn things a little bit towards the better but now the negative side of UIC seems to be in total control. So now all we have left to do is to depend on the All Mighty God."

Jimmie Lee will also be participating in the 48 Hours Blues Vigil on Maxwell Street, Friday, August 25 (6PM) to Sunday, August 27 (6PM).

For more information visit the website of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html> Also see Maxwell Street Tear Down Blues <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/ptear.html>.

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