North Cook News

Evanston’s mayor and City Council recently recognized a local activist for his work in the community.

During a Nov. 28 City Council meeting, the council recognized Morris “Dino” Robinson, a local activist who has done approximately 25 years of work in the community with the Shorefront Legacy Center. Shorefront is an organization dedicated to collecting, preserving and memorializing the legacies of black people on Chicago’s suburban North Shore. Robinson was previously the executive director of the organization for 25 years and recently announced he was stepping down from the position.

While Robinson was only able to make it to the meeting via Zoom, his mother was in attendance to accept the award and thank the council on his behalf. She commemorated how Shorefront started with just a few people reaching out and now has expanded to the horizons of the Smithsonian Institute and all across the nation.

Robinson gave a brief presentation on the history of Shorefront and all they have done. He shared how they started with just some artwork on his dining room table and now are celebrating 25 years as an organization. At the end, he introduced Laurice Bell, his replacement as the new executive director, who was also at the council meeting.

"I am honored to be here, to represent Dino, to represent Shorefront," Bell said in the meeting. "I want to start by saying Dino Robinson is a hero of mine. He has put equity into action, he saw what wasn’t right, he found a solution, and he hasn’t stopped working on it. And it’s an ongoing issue that must be addressed nonstop. Dino shows us that though it takes a village, one person can make a difference."