After over 20 years, longtime Evanston resident and activist, Morris “Dino” Robinson has revisited one of his early works, a book that detailed the history of the city’s Emerson Street YMCA, with a second edition.
Robinson, who no longer lives in Evanston and now resides in Georgia with his wife, will return to the city to speak about the new version of the book, with an official talk planned on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Avenue. The event runs from 6 to 8 p.m.
The speaking engagement will be in partnership with Shorefront Legacy Center, where Robinson once served as the executive director before leaving in 2022 and passing the torch to current director Laurice Bell.
The first version of Gatherings: The History and Activities of the Emerson Street Branch YMCA, was released in 2005, after Robinson received a grant to research the center and its role as a hub for Black Evanston residents to gather.
The Emerson Street YMCA was a center for Black residents that operated in the city for 60 years, opening in 1914. For decades, Evanston’s hospitals, neighborhoods, elementary schools, dances and beaches were segregated. The YMCAs were no different, there was a whites-only location on Grove Street YMCA, and the Emerson Street YMCA.
The Emerson Street Y was officially demolished in 1980.
A timeline of The Emerson Street YMCA, included in Morris “Dino” Robinson’s book, Gatherings. Credit: Morris Robinson
In his initial research, Robinson was able to access minutes to meetings held at the facility, and he wanted the book to reflect the history written by those who were participants of the Y.
“People have said this is Heavenston and depending who you ask, who gets to write that storyline?” Robinson said. “Youre saying this is a great place to live but for who? You have access to all the beaches, you have access to all of these things. We have conditions.”
Robinson said when he was writing and researching that initial version, he was mostly unsatisfied with the information and details that came up, but he was on a tight deadline of only six months.
“So it was a time constraint and I knew that as soon as it was published,” Robinson said. “This isn’t how I really want to look. I know there’s some information I’m missing. Even after publication, I found some inaccuracies that became apparent.”
Additionally, Robinson said that digital archives at the time were limited and resources have drastically expanded over the past two decades.
“I was able to go to online digital collections and search,” he said. “When I did the first book, I asked the library called Live archives what they have and they said, ‘Oh, we only have one photograph. That’s all we know of.”
The idea for a second book has been in the back of his mind for years, he said, research officially started when a friend of his was cleaning out her storage and found an old image of the YMCA branches old basketball team in 2014.
“That kind of spurred this, ‘OK, now’s the time to get on this again,’” he said. “So I go back to doing research. I took the old book, ripped it apart, and started taking notes in there, and identifying people in pictures, bringing it to everyone, who knows this person? Do you know that person? And clearing up a lot of some of the inaccuracies that I had in there.“
The second edition of the book was released in July.
The second edition of Gatherings was released in July. Credit: Morris Robinson
Copies of the book can be purchased through the Shorefront Legacy Center. Reach out to Shorefront at 847-864-7467 or via email, office@shorefrontlegacy.org.
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