We are an interracial team of creatives telling the unusual story of Park Forest, IL. We set out in 2020 to answer a question posted on Facebook six years earlier: Was the racial harmony children experienced growing up there real? The answer we got was complicated.

We discovered that many Black kids, especially during the 1960s and ’70s, faced racism their white classmates were not aware of. And as adults many whites romanticize their roles in a culture they fondly remember as colorblind. Our simplistic storyline shifted, and we began to explore how those blemishes affected the experience.

In the end, we discovered a compelling story arc that answered the question more deeply. Starting around 1972, Park Forest children — Black, white, Latino and Asian — experienced race relations in a way they have found virtually nowhere else. By the mid-1980s, interracial dating and socializing became commonplace. Two Black students referred to Park Forest as "utopia" in their college application essays.

How it happened was another story. In 1959, the town adopted the formal policy of “not recruiting” Black people but protecting their rights to move into Park Forest and live safely. Leaders kept a list of the address of every Black family and began a practice that attempted to steer buyers in order to keep neighborhoods integrated. These sometimes dubious, other times ethically questionable policies resulted in the social magic that left its mark on those children.