Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

Minnie was born August 21, 1886, to the late Joseph and Lucy Waters. She was preceded in death by her brothers, Ammon, Bradford, Charlie, Wilford, George, and one sister, Ellen. She departed this life in 1984 at the age of 98. Waters was the plantation name where her entire family served. Watertown, Tennessee is the name of the town she came from and ultimately returned to.

The Pulitzer Price and National Humanities Medal winner Isabel Wilkerson wrote the critically acclaimed bestseller The Warmth of Other Suns the Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. She chronicles the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities. Our family’s journey of migration was from Tennessee to Chicago—some went to Detroit, St. Louis, and others on to Cleveland. It was during that time at the turn of the century that Minnie migrated as a laundress with a pair of White sisters from Tennessee to Lake Forest. Shortly after Minnie arrived, she met Bealy Slaughter, who lived in and worked for the City of Lake Forest and as a blacksmith. They fell in love and married. They purchased the large lot and house at 1359 N. Edgewood Road where they lived and worked. Minnie continued to do laundry for the sisters and took care of the McGee children.Minnie, affectionately known as “Aunt Minnie”, was a lifetime member of the Baptist faith. Formerly a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Watertown, TN, she was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Lake Forest. She was a Sunday school teacher, missionary worker, member of the quilting knitting and crocheting women’s guilds, and overall, a faithful church member.

Along comes Weenie. Edwina Elaine Jennings, affectionately known as “Weenie”, was born November 16, 1922, in Detroit, Michigan to Lucille and Bradford Jennings who migrated north from Watertown, Tennessee. Her father died early and her mother had to painfully separate her five children. Aunt Minnie, Edwina’s great aunt (her grandfather’s sister), had developed a joyful loving relationship with young Edwina from her visits to Detroit. She sent for Edwina to live with her. Four-year-old Edwina arrived at the Lake Forest train station in 1926 where her great aunt Minnie and husband Bealy awaited her. Weenie became the love of their lives and they of hers. They adopted her. Bealy Slaughter had a son Carl from a previous relationship and Edwina also loved him and his daughter Anne dearly. Every Wednesday and Sunday the Slaughter family went to the First Baptist Church of Lake Forest, where Edwina attended the young people’s group and played the piano for church services.

At freshmen orientation at Morgan State College a Historically Black College (HBCU), Edwina met Mitchell Whittingham, Jr. from Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. It was love at first sight. Weenie became captain of the cheerleading squad and Mitchell was the football team’s captain and star quarterback/running back. Mitchell was drafted into WWII after his sophomore year, after which he returned to Morgan State College and graduated. He also returned to Weenie. They were married in 1945. Edwina and Mitchell believed Lake Forest was the place to raise their family. Family was everything to both.

Edwina’s adopted father Bealy Slaughter passed and Aunt Minnie sold her Lake Forest home to Edwina and Mitchell. Minnie returned to Watertown, Tennessee and later married her childhood friend Edgar Vantrease, a tobacco farm owner.

Edwina was a stay-at-home mom the first several years of their marriage. She later enjoyed a 44-year career with the U.S. Department of Defense, first at Great Lakes Naval Base and then 5th Army Headquarters at Fort Sheridan, where she retired in 1986. She was loved by her colleagues and military officers and received numerous awards, among them the Meritorious Medal of Civilian Services, the highest civilian award.Mitchell retired as the Director of the Fort Sheridan Athletic Department and Community Services. His colleagues and Army officers and personnel spoke highly of Mitch Whittingham. He was widely respected as a leader and athlete. Mitchell played semi-pro football with men from North Chicago and Waukegan, several of whom were school football coaches, including North Chicago High School. He co-founded the North Shore Duffers Golf Club. Both Edwina and Mitch were avid golfers. Mitch and Weenie were the couple that young folks came to for advice and provided a place of safety, sport, food, and fun.

Weenie was proud to be part of the Girl Reserves. Above you see many young girls from Lake Forest, as well as a photo of their mothers and the Reserves promoter Irene Castle McLaughlin on the far right.The Girl Reserves, a 1918 Young Women’s Christian Association group, supported World War I efforts fostering “Patriotic war work” by young girls. It proved to be the most popular club program in the YWCA organization. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Reserves became a way to incorporate minorities into the organization’s activities. Being a part of the Girl Reserves had a huge impact on Edwina, who went on to take part in her daughters’ Brownie and Girl Scouts activities. She was daughter Nik-ki’s troop leader for several years.

Along come the Whittingham babies: Michelle 1949, Mitchell III 1952, and Nik-ki 1954. Mitchell III died at five days old from jaundice and is buried in Lake Forest Cemetery.

The above photo sees Nikki 1964 with friend at the Girl Scout Square Dance booth, and Michelle in annual ice-skating race.

Edwina attended Halsey and Gorton Schools, as well as LFHS. Michelle attended also Halsey School. Both girls attended Sheridan, Gorton, Deerpath and LFHS. The class photos above show Nik-ki and Michelle at their respective Lake Forest grammar schools. Michelle was part of the first class to attend Sheridan School. They lived right behind Sheridan School and played and attended summer camp there each youthful years. You will also see other African American children in the photos: Arthur Barnard, Pamela Turk, Michael Green, Ronald Casselberry, Deborah Lawson, Gregory Saddler, Ethel Jones, Karen Reid (McIntosh family of Lake Forest) who later became Edwina’s caregiver, and neighbor and dear friend Carol Dennison. The above picture of children at First Baptist Church of Lake Forest was taken after a pageant and includes Michelle Whittingham, 3rd row on the right.Mr. and Mrs. Wernicke, a German couple, owned the vacant lot directly south of and between their house and the Whittingham’s house. Mitch mowed the lawn and shoveled snow for the elderly couple. They had no children and had a loving relationship with Mitch and Weenie, saying they would only sell to the Whittinghams, knowing the red line laws would make it close to impossible for an African American couple to buy Lake Forest property.

The lot was a beautiful and perfect place for Weenie’s favorite sport: competitive match of croquet.

The Mr. and Mrs. Club of Lake Forest was a monthly gathering of African American adult couples of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff for fun and fellowship. The club would gather for dinner parties at each other’s homes and go to Chicago entertainment and other places on the North Shore where African Americans lived, had church, and had community.Michelle and Nik-ki and looked forward to club meetings because their favorite babysitter Rosemary Montgomery would come over. Rosemary lived next door and was a LFHS cheerleader with a lot of energy. It was always a good time.The above pictures show two couples that were a big part of our lives, Lillian and James Shephard (Lake Forest) and Cleo and Allan Turk (Lake Bluff and Lake Forest) and whose children Jackie and Pamela were dear friends, both LFHS graduates.

Following Mitchell’s and Edwina’s deaths in 1992 and 2011 respectively, both lots were sold. Neighbors to the north and best friends Lillian and James Shephard’s (Nik-ki’s God parents pictured above) properties have also been sold. All homes have been demolished. Michelle and Nik-ki miss their Lake Forest home where they received a top-notch public education and learned to be near and with nature, water, sports, tennis courts, etc. and, yes, learned about racism at an early age.

Michelle married Ray Bentley, a Chicago City Manager. They have two children and 3 grandchildren: Kya and Courtney Wells, Sr. and grandchildren Kasiya Michelle and Courtney, Jr., and Michael Raymond Bentley and his son Marlo.

Michelle attended HBCU Spelman College in 1967-1968 during the civil rights, black liberation, and Vietnam movements. She later received a B.A from the University of Illinois; M.A. from Northeastern Illinois; M.Div. from the University of Chicago Divinity School Meadville/Lombard Theological School; and a D.Min. from Chicago Theological Seminary. Rev. Dr. Michelle Bentley has served with distinction across Unitarian Universalism for nearly forty years. After working as an educator and high school principal for serious juvenile offenders in Chicago, she became the first person of color to serve as Dean and Faculty at Meadville/Lombard Theological Seminary. Michelle’s ministry was varied. She loved working in the community. As someone coming from the privilege of Lake Forest, she understood the responsibility to assist others: organized two new congregations; served congregations as Interim, Associate, and Senior Ministers; a Denominational Executive; chaplain at LaRabida Children’s Hospital for the Chronically and Terminally Ill; the BRASS Foundation a treatment program for folks struggling with addiction; a women’s half-way house and youth prevention programs; and as an Expert Consultant for the Cook County Public Defender’s Alternative Sentencing Program for Capital Criminal Cases. Michelle’s article in the 2023 Skinner House Publication of The Rough Side of the Mountain: Black Women’s Ministries in Unitarian Universalism is an interesting read (Qiyamah A. Rahman, editor).

Nik-ki married Steven Burns, a musician and electrical contractor, of Evanston, Illinois. They have a one beautiful daughter Edwina Asha Quansah. Nik-ki’s educational background includes a PhD from Walden University; certification in marriage and family therapy from the University of Chicago Center for Family Health; M.A. Columbia College Chicago; B.A. Northeastern Illinois University; and A.B. Chicago College of Commerce. She retired from her professional careers where she was in private practice as a family therapist; adjunct faculty member University of Phoenix, Dominican University, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Chicago Center for Family Therapy, Columbia College of Chicago, and Chicago College of Commerce. Nik-ki worked many years for the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, well as a court reporter in the criminal, chancery, law, and probate divisions of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

As a creative person, Nik-ki has been a photojournalist. Clients include the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Jet Magazine, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and many others. She has exhibited at the Chicago Jazz Festivals, Chicago Sun-Times Building, Kuumba Theatre, and the Museum of Science and Industry. Her award-winning quilts have been on display throughout Chicago, Michigan, and the quilt capital of the world, Paducah, Kentucky.*******Following the deaths of Minnie’s husbands (Slaughter, Vantrease, and Sweat), Minnie returned home to Lake Forest where Edwina and Mitchell loved and took good care of her. Later when Minnie needed additional care, she lived in the Lake Bluff nursing home. Aunt Minnie and Uncle Edgar’s (Vantrease) home on Lynwood Road, Watertown, Tennessee is a place Nik-ki and Michelle and their families continue to visit and call home.Upon Aunt Minnie’s death she returned to Watertown to be buried between two of her brothers.Mitchell and Edwina Whittingham are inurned at The First Unitarian Church of Chicago Crypt, 5700 S. Woodlawn Ave., (Hyde Park), Chicago, Illinois. In loving memory of Aunt Minnie, Mom and Dad,Michelle & Nik-ki

Slaughter-Whittingham Family