Willard LaMere

Patterning their effort on a similar center opened in Los Angeles by AFSC, Willard took the lead in fundraising.

The American Indian Center (AIC) opened at the corner of La Salle and Kinzie streets in September 1953.

The Center provided a variety of activities including social gatherings every Saturday, holiday meals, periodic pow-wows, and a dance club that performed around the region.

[4] Today, the AIC remains the primary cultural and community resource for the more than 65,000 Native Americans in the Chicago area.

"[7] Representatives from the conference formally presented the declaration to President John F. Kennedy in a ceremony at the White House in 1962.

The 1961 American Indian Chicago Conference (AICC) at the University of Chicago. Members from 90 tribes wrote a shared "Declaration of Indian Purpose." Photo by F. Peter Weil, courtesy of the NAES College Collection at the Northwestern University Libraries