Education played a pivotal role in African-Americans' post-World War II struggle for equality. Many activists believed that victories against racially discriminatory school systems would lead to gains in other critical areas. By examining Howalton Day School, a black private school on Chicago's South Side in operation from 1946-1986, this article suggests that African-Americans saw public and private educational sectors as more porous than what existing studies indicate. It shows how black Chicagoans instituted a dual educational agenda which included involvement and activism in both public and private sectors. The history of Howalton also complicates the assumption that blacks in the North sought strategies beyond integration only as a result of the Black Power Movement. Prior to the onset of community control, black Chicagoans supported Howalton even though it was a segregated school. Finally, this examination of Howalton gives scholars a unique window into black educational interests not seen in most studies of public education. Specifically, it moves beyond broader issues such as desegregation and community control by also including the curriculum and pedagogy blacks privileged in their own schools.