By Heart of Illinois ABC
NORMAL – The Illinois State Historical Society has chosen Illinois State University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Mark Wyman with its 2022 lifetime achievement award.
Wyman is considered a scholar of labor, cultural, and social history. ISU’s Department of History and the McLean County Museum of History nominated Wyman for the prize.
“During his 35 years as a professor in our department and then in the decade and a half since his retirement, Dr. Wyman embodied Illinois and midwestern history in both substance and spirit,” said Dr. Ross A. Kennedy, ISU Department of History chair, in a prepared statement.
Wyman is credited for promoting understanding and reconciliation through his involvement with the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project.
Wyman’s efforts led to the placement of an Illinois State Historical Society marker at Bloomington’s Miller Park, which used to be the site of a segregated Black beach.
“For most of Bloomington-Normal, I’ve found the secret is still deeply buried that we ever had segregation here, virtually unknown within this community’s collective memory,” Wyman said at the time of the marker’s dedication.
“But we in Bloomington-Normal today cannot be afraid of this hidden truth,” said Wyman.
Wyman will receive the historical society’s honor at the organization’s annual awards luncheon Saturday, April 9, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield.
The luncheon starts at 11:30 a.m. For more information, including reservations, call ISHS at 217-525-2781.
Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].
