It’s been a rough few days for race relations in our country—Donald Trump’s still the president, and Michael Flug died.
Among other things, he told them to “go back to the countries” they came from. Even though three of the four were born in the U.S. In fact, Congresswomen Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts was born in Cincinnati, was raised right here in Chicago, and graduated from Francis W. Parker School on the north side.
For 20 years, Flug was the senior archivist at the Carter G. Woodson library at 95th and Halsted. He helped develop and arrange the voluminous collection of material in the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection.
Because he ran the archives at a south-side library primarily dedicated to African-American history, many people figured he was a light-skinned Black guy.
Throughout the 60s, Flug protested against various racial injustices as a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the civil rights group. He was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam war. “To be a conscientious objector you had to go to court to prove you are nonviolent,” says French. “They assigned him to two years of alternative service.”
Beyond his work as an archivist, Flug had wide-ranging tastes. “Michael loved dogs—big dogs—he didn’t love little dogs,” says French. “But then we got a cat. He loved that little cat. He also loved music. Opera. Tina Turner. Tim McGraw. He loved Tim McGraw—Southern Voice. He wanted Tim McGraw to run for senator from Tennessee.”
