WBEZ Curious City Stories Airing BHM24

Remember to hit the red play button to hear the audio stories

Air Date: Feb. 1, 2024

Independent Black cinema got its start on Chicago’s South Side (Rerun)

Air Date: Feb. 8, 2024

Looking back at the 1940 exposition that showcased Black art and innovation

Air Date: Feb. 15, 2024

Black History Month, which has Chicago roots, has faced resistance from the start

Sources for BHM24 Social Media Videos

Day 1

The Underground Railroad and the Little Calumet River

Fugitive Slave Acts — History.com

African American Heritage Water Trail

Day 2

Former Slave Rufus Estes Helped Teach America How To Cook — LAist

Day 3

The Birth of Gospel Music in Chicago — WTTW

MLK requested a song minutes before his assassination, and that tune comforted millions — The Dallas Morning News

Day 4

Katherine Dunham Collection Articles and Essays — Library of Congress

Institute for Dunham Technique Certification

Dunham turned anthropology into artistry — UChicago News

Day 5

Ida B. Wells’ Lasting Impact On Chicago Politics And Power — WBEZ’s Curious City

Day 6

Joe Louis (The American Experience Features) — PBS

‘Brown Bomber’ was a hero to all — ESPN

Day 7

Chicago’s Breakdown: When Jazz Came North — The Richard H. Driehaus Museum

Day 8

Mae Jemison — National Women’s Museum

Day 9

Ralph Metcalfe, 1975 Hall of Fame Inductee — USATF

Day 10

Walter T. Bailey’s National Pythian Temple Fragment, Chicago, Illinois — Art Institute of Chicago

Walter T. Bailey — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Day 11

Hazel M. Johnson, ‘Mother of the Environmental Justice Movement’ — Chicago Public Library

Day 12

History Of The Fire Pole Started With Black Chicago Firehouse In 1870s — CBS 2

Chicago’s Black Fire Brigade Is Training First Responders And Working To Reverse Racism At The Fire Department — Block Club Chicago

Day 13

History — Quinn Chapel AME Church

The rise of Black political power in early Chicago — The TRiiBE

Day 14

56 years ago, a dying Lorraine Hansberry coined the phrase “young, gifted and black.” — Literary Hub

Day 15

Who We Are — Bud Billiken Parade

Day 16

Jesse Binga, Chicago’s First Black Banker Who Refused To Let Bombings Stop His Ambition, Profiled In New Book — Block Club Chicago

The rise and fall of a Black banking icon — Axios

Day 17

Unforgettable Nat King Cole, Flip Wilson & American Television — National Museum of African American History and Culture

Nat ‘King’ Cole’s TV Show Gets Digital Release — CBS

Day 18

The Pekin: Chicago’s First Black-Owned Theater — Chicago Public Library

Chicago’s Black Theater — WTTW

Day 19

Anthony Overton — Harvard Business School

Overton Hygienic Building — Chicago Landmarks

The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago: Anthony Overton and the Building of a Financial Empire

Day 20

Chicago’s Wall of Respect: how a mural elicited a sense of collective ownership — The Guardian

The Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) is formed — African American Registry

Day 21

Illinois Writers Project: “Negro in Illinois” Digital Collection — Chicago Public Library

Federal Writers’ Project — Encyclopedia of Chicago

Day 22

History — The Vivian G. Harsh Society

Black History Month Spotlight: Vivian Harsh, Chicago’s First Black Librarian — WTTW

Day 23

Addie L. Wyatt — National Park Service

Hall of Honor Inductee: Rev. Addie Wyatt — U.S. Department of Labor

Day 24

The People’s Free Food Program — Mapped Chicago

The Radical Origins of Free Breakfast for Children — Eater

Day 25

Florence Price was one of the greatest composers of the 20th Century. Until recently, she was overlooked. — WBEZ

Day 26

The first Black-owned airport in the U.S. was in Robbins, Illinois — WBEZ

Day 27

Wabash Avenue YMCA — National Park Service

The Bronzeville Origins of Black History Month — Chicago History Museum

Day 28

Celebrating 100 Years with Timuel Black, Jr. — Chicago Public Library

Day 29

No sources needed! This is all about YOU.