By Altheria Gaston

On August 17, 2015, protesters began a hunger strike in response to the closing of the last open-enrollment public high school in Chicago Public Schools. The school board decided on June 2015 to close Dyett High School, a mostly Black high school located on Chicago’s South Side. The board then decided, in early September, to reopen the high school as an arts high school, against protesters’ desires for the high school to have a global leadership and green technology theme, a focus that would equip students with more marketable skills. The protesters determined to not eat, even if it costs them their lives, until their requests are met. The strike ended on September 19.