This page was created by . 

Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots Main Menu About About this project Events A series of Community Conversations across Chicago about the legacies of 1919

Segregation and Public Education

3

Saturday, June 1, 2019, 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Harold Washington Library, Pritzker Auditorium

View the video of this event on the Newberry's YouTube page or explore other multimedia.

Join a two-part Saturday event that explores how the legacy of the 1919 riots and the resulting hardening of segregation influenced the trajectory of Chicago’s education system.

This first program will explore how the legacy of the 1919 riots and the resulting hardening of segregation influenced the trajectory of Chicago’s education system. How does the de facto segregation in today’s Chicago public schools compare to segregated education in 1919 Chicago? How does segregation in schools affect other aspects of Chicago today?

Speakers and Facilitators

Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago Since the 1960s, will provide an overview of the history of segregation in Chicago's public schools, and especially the relationship between segregation in housing and in schooling, from the early 20th century through the 1970s.

Jen Johnson, Chief of Staff at Chicago Teacher's Union and Former CPS History Teacher, will discuss how she dealt with teaching this aspect of the city's history to public school students; and also address the current state of school segregation and contemporary organizing.

The two speakers will then engage in a wide-ranging conversation with each other, and then open the discussion to questions and feedback from the audience.

Moderated by Liesl Olson, the Newberry's Director of Chicago Studies.

This event will be live-streamed though the Newberry's Twitter account.

Register separately for the event immediately following this one, a screening and discussion of the documentary film 63 Boycott

Key Program Organizers

Karen Christianson, Director of Public Engagement, The Newberry Library
Elizabeth Cummings, Public Programs Manager, The Newberry Library
D. Bradford Hunt, Vice President for Research and Academic Programs, The Newberry Library
Jen Johnson, Chief of Staff at Chicago Teacher's Union and Former CPS Teacher
Liesl Olson, Director of Chicago Studies, The Newberry Library
Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Assistant Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago