Chicago History
Pervis Staples, whose tenor voice complimented his father’s and sisters’ in the legendary gospel group The Staple Singers, has died, a spokesman announced Wednesday. He was 85.
It’s a story many Chicagoans know, but since the Oscar-nominated film “Judas and the Black Messiah” was released, more people are learning about the life and death of Fred Hampton. We talk with his widow and his son.
What can an apartment building that once hosted royalty tell us about Chicago’s Norwegian American community? Geoffrey Baer has the story of this former social club designed by a pair of famous Chicago architects.
Renaming 17 miles of Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, would be a massive undertaking without precedent in the city’s history, city officials told aldermen Thursday.
After helming the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville for many years, the South Side native has returned to the city to lead the Chicago History Museum. Donald Lassere joins us to talk about expanding the museum’s mission to all of Chicago.
Themes of justice, pride and community have blossomed in murals along Chicago’s streets and storefronts, creating a constantly evolving and thought-provoking backdrop to a tumultuous year.
Our trip down memory lane with the WTTW program “Our People” from the late 1960s and early ‘70s brought back memories for one former Chicagoan. Here is his story.
On Chicago’s South Side, there’s a bridge spanning the Dan Ryan expressway that looks more like a Disney World monorail than part of a working CTA train line.
The murders of Emmett Till and George Floyd were separated by more than six decades, contrasting circumstances and countless protests, but their families say they feel an intimate connection in their grief and what comes next.
The big reveal is still nearly a year away, but the city has shared teaser images of the work in progress on the Tiffany glass dome and decorative finishes in the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall.
When Avelino Maldonado started his spice distribution company in Chicago, the biggest waves of Latino immigrants had yet to arrive. Sixty-four years later, Latinos comprise nearly 30% of the city’s population, and La Criolla’s new owners hope to bring their Latin flavor to another generation of cooks.
The Chicago Public Library has filled a gap in the legacy of former Mayor Harold Washington by digitizing scores of his written speeches, available to the public in a searchable online collection, library officials announced this week.
Urban historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas gives us the last word on how knowing the city’s past can change the energy of its future.
Public art has become synonymous with Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. A new mural on 18th Street is using the medium to preserve the community’s history, and to memorialize dozens of its residents.
The starry cast of Aaron Sorkin’s 1960s courtroom drama took the top prize Sunday at a virtual Screen Actors Guild Awards where actors of color, for the first time, swept the individual film awards.
Loyola University Chicago’s NCAA run has put the Ramblers in the national spotlight once again. We remember the 1963 championship team.