Black History
The pace of declining Black spaces in Chicago is speeding up, Alden Loury writes. Despite the decline, there’s a market waiting for the investment that will keep Black residents in place and draw others back to the communities they’ve called home.
Chicago’s Folded Map Project and Black Social Culture Map are examples of how Black communities use map-making to affirm the importance of Black life.
Libraries, bookstores deal with patrons trying to keep titles on Black and LGBTQ people out of sight.
Over the decades, musicians, writers and activists have shaped the narrative of a vibrant Black Chicago. Here are three Black activists and organizations carrying the legacy of Black Chicago forward.
Colman Domingo, Jeffrey Wright, Nicole Beharie and other brilliant actors interpret the speeches of the great abolitionist.
Between musical excerpts, dramatized scenes bring into focus the life of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, as well as the perilous times in which he lived.
The brief time we spend with the characters is enjoyable, thanks to travis tate’s often raucous banter and the well-matched actors André Teamer and Terry Guest, who make a persuasive and sympathetic pair.
The Discovery+ series is one of several new movie and TV projects marking Black History Month.
Six Black-owned beer entities are working alongside each other for six weeks through a residency program at Haymarket Brewery & Pub, 737 W. Randolph St.
Considering it was originally meant to premiere in 2020, it’s remarkable how timely “Relentless” proves at a moment in 2022 when so many are expressing an aversion to engaging with history.
The struggles and hopes of Blacks in America across the centuries begin to unfold in the first work in August Wilson’s Century Cycle.
Black History Month arrives with American history under assault all around the country.
While not always successful in merging its many themes, Northlight’s two-person drama builds compelling tension between the strained spouses.
The newly appointed executive director says that the Philharmonic’s composer-in-residence program, which began in 2021 before his arrival, can play a major role in his bid toward promoting greater diversity and inclusion.
The home in North Kenwood where blues legend Muddy Waters lived — which is being converted into The MOJO Muddy Waters House Museum — was granted final landmark status by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Thursday.
On April 22, Angela Ford of The Obsidian Collection closed on a $1.25 million loan to become new owner of Bronzeville’s historic Lu Palmer Mansion. Ford is free to establish a museum there but needs a zoning change from the alderman to rent space or otherwise make money.
The decision by Ald. Sophia King (4th) was announced at the start of Tuesday’s meeting of the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards.
The historic Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home in Bronzeville was an early 20th century settlement house established by suffragettes to aid African American women coming from the South during the Great Migration.
When Ariajo “Joanne” Tate and her husband bought their Bronzeville gray limestone in 1989, they had no idea it was the historic Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home, among the rare settlement houses established by Black women suffragettes in the early 1900s, to aid Black women and girls arriving in Chicago during the Great Migration.
“The Black Church,” a two-part documentary premiering Tuesday, shines a light on the role of the church in Black America’s journey from slavery through the present-day rise of white supremacy, with prominent Chicago luminaries including Oprah Winfrey, Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright helping tell the story.
From delivering personal protective equipment to seniors to attending virtual performances and panels, there are many options for celebrating MLK’s legacy this year.
After destruction and looting followed peaceful protests in the wake of the George Floyd killing, a South Side father drove the city with his son, a budding photographer, to view and talk about it. Christopher Slaughter later realized photos of the prolific art on plywood taken by 14-year-old Zachary was history soon to disappear.
Dr. Linda Murray, former chief medical officer for the Cook County Department of Public Health, was a doctor serving public housing residents when one of the deadliest heat waves in U.S. history hit Chicago. On the 25th anniversary of the disaster, she sees the same root causes fueling the same racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths.
Facing a lagging 66% response rate with the 2020 census, Illinois officials have declared Juneteenth — this Friday commemorating the June 19, 1865, emancipation of enslaved people in Texas — as Black Census Day, highlighting the count’s potential to impact racial inequities.
This Sun-Times editorial was published Sept. 27, 1955, just after the two men charged with brutally murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till were acquitted of the murder charge. The paper expressed disgust at the “nauseating” verdict. This is part of a 75-anniversary project highlighting decades of exceptional journalism.
This story was published on Sept. 8, 1955, when Emmett Till’s mother announced she would be going to Mississippi to testify at the trial of the two men who brutally murdered her teenage son. This is part of a 75-anniversary series highlighting decades of journalism coverage
This story on Emmett Till was published on Sept. 4, 1955, the day after thousands came to pay their respects at the funeral of the murdered teenager. Emmett’s mother’s insistence that his brutally beaten body be shown to the world was a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement. This is part of a 75-anniversary series highlighting decades of journalism coverage
This story was published the day after Emmett Till’s body was found beaten, bullet-pierced and weighed down with iron and barbed wire in the muddy waters of Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River on Thursday, Sept. 1, 1955. It is part of a 75th anniversary series highlighting decades of important journalism coverage.
This story was published on Sept. 2, 1955, when Emmett Till’s body arrived by train back in his hometown Chicago from Mississippi. The brutal murder of this teenager and his mother’s insistence that his brutally beaten body be shown to the world was a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement. This is part of a 75-anniversary series highlighting decades of journalism coverage.
This editorial was published on Sept. 2, 1955, when Emmett Till’s body arrived home by train to Chicago from Mississippi. Till’s brutal lynching murder and his mother’s insistence that the world not turn away from what was done to her son was a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement. This is part of a 75-anniversary series highlighting decades of journalism coverage
This story was originally published in the Chicago Daily News the day Emmett Till’s body was found beaten, bullet-pierced and weighed down with iron and barbed wire in the muddy waters of Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 1955. It is part of a 75-anniversary series highlighting decades of important journalism coverage.