The Illinois Prairie Path begins on First Avenue in Maywood, Illinois, a little north of Madison Street. It is a 61 mile bike and hiking path that that branches off in several directions when it reaches the Fox River. Despite its bucolic sounding name, the scenery surrounding the first few miles of the Path is blue collar suburban rather than the swaying grasses one associates with the word prairie.

But if there is no prairie to be found near the Path when it begins in Maywood IL, there is history . On Oak Street near the Path is the Fred Hampton Family Aquatic Center. On hot summer days, it is filled with noisy frolicking kids escaping the blazing sun of the American Midwest. 

Remember when we all used to wonder who the agent was? The spy in our midst? The infiltrator who was spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt?  The provocateur who was spinning wild schemes of gratuitous violence and plotting revolutionary crime sprees?

Well, we soon figured out that yes, even paranoids have real enemies and yes, there were spies everywhere.  The Washington D.C. area was especially fertile ground for infiltrating radical groups. Besides the state, county and local cops, every major government intelligence agency was there along with the US military. Not to mention whatever undercover agents and informants various foreign powers may have had running around.

It was the old Mad Magazine Spy vrs. Spy vrs Spy come to life in living color....Agent 99 on speed....Inspector Closeau cloned and programmed....

With all of the brouhaha about Mark Felt’s revelation that he was the famous “Deep Throat”, it’s also worth pointing out that Mark Felt was involved in the Cointelpro program which targeted radical groups with illegal surveillance, illegal break-ins and deliberate undercover disruption that included acts of terrorism.

Mark Felt was the Deep Throat who helped break the Watergate story, but he was also deep into a variety of illegal activities that no doubt touched the lives of UM campus activists.

I had some fine teachers at UM. Barillari for Western Civ, Roelofs for Philosphy, Birdsall for English — but one of my best teachers did not hold any academic position and did not have regular office hours. That person was Gladys Jefferson, president of AFSCME Local 1072, the campus workers’ union.

UM’s sad Jim Crow legacy began to crumble radically in the 1960’s as the impact of the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements found its way to College Park. One of the student demands of the time was a call for more Black History.  Although taught on some predominantly Black campuses, it was almost unknown at predominantly white institutions like UM.

Craig Simpson and I were just talking (by email) about people we remembered from the early 70s and David Ifshin’s name came up. Craig and I worked on the National Student Association’s newsletter when David was its president and NSA supported the UM antiwar activities. I “Googled” David and was shocked to find that he died of cancer in mid-1996.