Stories by Erica Gunderson

This month marks the anniversary of pandemic-induced shutdowns across Illinois. As we close out a year of COVID-19, we assess the road behind us, and the journey ahead. 

A look back on the impact of the pandemic on the Latino community after one year, with doctors Marina del Rios, Juanita Mora and Evelyn Figueroa.

With 10,000 people turning 65 every day in the U.S., the number of people with visual impairment or blindness is expected to rise significantly in the coming years. Here’s how two Chicago-area institutions have been working to support the visually impaired for over a century. 

Gov. J. B. Pritzker signed a criminal justice bill Monday that is massive both in its size – 764 pages – and scope. We discuss the the coming changes and what concerns the bill raises for opponents.

Jazz is the foundation of Mark Ruffin’s entire career as a music historian, journalist and broadcaster. In this week’s Black Voices Book Club selection, the principles of jazz composition also inspired his fictional takes on topics of race and intolerance.

In this recently rediscovered interview, the Grammy Award-winning actor talks with “Our People” host Jim Tilmon about how media representations affect popular perceptions.

How Chicago’s day laborers, many of whom are undocumented, are finding — and not finding — work during the coronavirus pandemic.

From Cuba to the Dominican Republic to right here in Chicago, millions of Afro Latinos speak their culture through their language and wear their African heritage on their bodies, especially in their hair texture.

Black women’s hair, particularly in the workplace, has been the subject of endless discussion in recent years. In this rediscovered 1968 interview from the WTTW show “Our People,” actor Diahann Carroll tells a story that demonstrates it’s not exactly a new issue.

Princeton University professor Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. talks about his hopes for the nation — and those of writer James Baldwin — in this week’s Black Voices Book Club selection.

Chicago has launched a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan that partners with community organizations to get vaccinations to people in the 15 communities most impacted by the pandemic. Carmen Vergara of Esperanza Health Centers tells us more.

Chef Rafael Esparza has worked in some of Chicago’s most storied kitchens. As part of our series, he gives us the last word on how works of mutual aid give cover to failures of public policy.

This month’s deep freeze has left Chicago’s homeless residents in deadly peril. But housing insecurity is not just an extreme-weather problem, some advocates say, and the city needs to take a bolder approach to housing policy.

A new archive detailing the experiences of police torture survivors went online this month. We hear from two people who are helping those survivors heal.

In this rediscovered interview from the WTTW series “Our People,” host Jim Tilmon gets the Chicago comedian to tell one of his signature stories.

“White Fright: The Sexual Panic at the Heart of America’s Racist History” re-examines the Reconstruction era through the 1960s and offers a new perspective on America’s history of white supremacy. Author Jane Dailey joins us as part of our Black Voices Book Club series.

Recent data indicates Latino and Black populations are getting vaccinated at half the rate of white populations. Dr. Julie Morita, a member of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 task force, gives us a shot in the arm on vaccine equity.

With Black history month underway, we take a closer look at how and what we teach our children about Black history with state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a former Chicago Public Schools teacher, and Maureen Tatsuko Loughnane, executive director of the nonprofit Facing History and Ourselves.

The founder of a nonprofit that mentors young men in the Chicago area tells us what it means to be a gentleman.

The comedian and actor known for his sardonic take on culture and society shares his thoughts on policing and crime in Chicago in this interview with Jim Tilmon from the WTTW show “Our People.”

Latino communities have been at a heightened risk of infection and death throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But the coronavirus has not only endangered their health, it’s also harming their finances and making them more likely to lose their homes.

From 1968 to 1972, WTTW aired a groundbreaking weekly show hosted by the late Jim Tilmon. Until recently, we thought all but a couple of episodes had been lost. Chicago author, photographer and architecture critic Lee Bey helps us blow the dust off five of the interviews we recently rediscovered.

Author and journalist Deborah Douglas said that traveling the civil rights trail is an emotional experience, but one that is worth having in person. “I gained a greater appreciation for the African American experience and what my elders were able to accomplish,” she said.

The Biden administration has released its racial equity agenda. We talk with the leaders of the National Urban League and its Chicago affiliate about their hopes for the next four years.

Interest in houseplants has grown during the pandemic and is helping plant parents new and old thrive during a difficult year. We visit the Plant Salon in Noble Square for a look.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program has been making matches in Chicago since 1967, but a lot has changed over the years. Many of the kids now come from Spanish-speaking households, and the organization is looking for more “bigs” who speak their language to volunteer.