Reporting on Race test
Thursday, April 4, 2019, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Experimental Station
This event is part of City Bureau’s Public Newsroom series at the Experimental Station6100 S. Blackstone Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (Map)
Listen to an audio recording of this event.
Join the conversation as we discuss the role of newspapers and media in the events of 1919 and beyond.This year marks 100 years since the 1919 race riots in Chicago. Sparked by the murder of African American teenager Eugene Williams, who drowned after being stoned by a white man near a whites-only South Side beach, these riots are an oft-overlooked part of the city’s history. Media coverage at the time of Williams’ death and the ensuing violence largely got the story wrong, with few notable exceptions, especially Carl Sandburg’s reporting for the Chicago Daily News.
On April 4, City Bureau's weekly Public Newsroom will be devoted to drawing connections to how reporting on the 1919 riots relates to the coverage of segregation nearly half a century later and what, if anything, has changed today.
Speakers and Facilitators
Our featured guests for the evening are Angela Ford, founder and executive director of The Obsidian Collection Archives, a national nonprofit focused on getting the images and articles of African American newspapers and small archives into the marketplace and online; Ethan Michaeli, author of The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America; and City Bureau co-founder Darryl Holliday. Attendees will also participate in activities to discuss contemporary reporting on race and how could it could be better.Key Program Organizers
Elizabeth Cummings, Public Programs Manager, The Newberry LibraryAndrea Hart, Director of Community Engagement, City Bureau
Darryl Holliday, News Lab Director, City Bureau
