Feb 20th 2018

Just as Chicago was transformed in its first century of existence, so were its black inhabitants.

Christopher Robert Reed provides the first comprehensive study of an African American population in a nineteenth-century northern city beyond the eastern seaboard. Reed’s study covers the first one hundred years of African American settlement and achievements in the Windy City, encompassing a range of activities and events that span the antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction, and post-Reconstruction periods.

Reed is Professor Emeritus of History at Roosevelt University, a Roosevelt alumnus, and a native Chicagoan. He is the nation’s leading expert and author of six books on the early history of African Americans in Chicago.

This event will be held in the Reception Hall, lower lever. Doors to the event will open at 5 p.m. and seating is available first come, first served (80 max.). Books are available for purchase and the author will autograph books at the conclusion of the program.

This event is part of African American History Month programming. For more information visit chipublib.org/africanamericanhistory.

Photo information:
Wiley Cherry and family, circa 1903, Bethel New Life Collection, Photograph 1.11. This collection gathers together African American families who resided in Chicago’s West Side neighborhoods. An oral history was also conducted with members of the Cherry family in the 1980s and available in this collection.

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