In 1968, amidst sweeping political and social activism in the U.S., African American student Clarence “Rollo” Turner led protests against racial discrimination that were met with hostility. That fall, Turner opened the Black Market here, which sold products made in Africa or by African Americans and acted as a cultural center for black students at Indiana University. On December 26, 1968, a local man with Ku Klux Klan ties firebombed the Black Market, destroying the entire store. Though it never reopened, students, faculty, and the community raised funds to cover the store’s inventory. In 1970, Indiana University students began developing the vacant lot into a People’s Park, a space for activism, recreation, and free expression.