SCLC, CCCO, and the West Side Federation seized a run-down apartment building at 1321 South Homan in Lawndale to dramatize the plight of the inner-city poor. The “trusteeship” received national attention. When asked about the legality of the takeover, Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “I won’t say that this is illegal, but I would call it supralegal. The moral question is far more important than the legal one.”
At the same time, Chicago’s chapter of Operation Breadbasket, directed by Jesse Jackson, began to focus on the employment practices of local bread, milk, soft drink, and soup companies.