Stolen School

DIRECTOR(s): Raphael Nash

​PROJECT TYPE: Documentary Short
GENRE: NA

COUNTRY:  United States

RUN TIME: 00:28:00
CAST: NA

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STOLEN SCHOOL confronts the reality that desegregation wasn’t good for everyone. In 1967, the local school district in Evanston, IL, closed Foster School—the all-Black neighborhood school in the historically Black 5th Ward—in the name of integration. Rather than ensuring equal access to resources, this decision displaced generations of Black students, forcing them to be bussed across town while their community was left without a local school. 
 
For nearly 60 years, 5th Ward children have had to leave their neighborhood each day to attend school, while the land where Foster once stood became repurposed for other uses. The closure fractured a vital institution and erased a cornerstone of Black educational and cultural life in Evanston. 

DATE: Sun, Oct 4, 2026

TIME:  4:30 PM – 6:07 PM CST (Shorts Block 8)

LOCATION:  R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center - Belmont University