Over more than two decades, Haki and Safisha Madhubuti have proved that African-centered education can amount to more than a black version of history. It can also be a springboard to a bright future.
Author Archives: Gary Rivlin
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Everybody’s Mayor
The media pundits believed that Council Wars was the fight of Harold Washington’s political life. But a truer test of his skill was the balancing act he had to perform to keep his diverse coalition together–to ensure that each of its disparate elements s
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The Night Chicago Burned
The city endured two riots in 1968–the one that everyone’s been talking about, and the one that everyone seems to have forgotten. Here’s a belated look back at the latter, the April uprising that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King.
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Shoot to Kill
Mayor Daley relished the year 1967. Around the country, blacks trapped and packed in steaming, stinking ghettos lashed out–in Newark, in Detroit, in more than 140 cities that summer. Not in Chicago, though. In Chicago, we had programs–“positive, constructive programs,” Daley said. In his successful bid to bring the Democratic National Convention to Chicago, he […]
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Seven Days as Mayor
From the Death of Washington to the Election of Sawyer: Vice Mayor David Orr Tells His Story
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Seven Wretched Days
The breakup of the coalition. The making of the mayor. The victory of the “mob.” The errors of the press.
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City Hall: Enemies of the People
The Mayor didn’t have to go after the aldermen who’d crossed him. His constituents have become sophisticated enough to do it themselves.
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City Hall: Battle of the Budget
This is Chicago’s budget season, which is, for pol watchers and media buffs, sort of two seasons in one. On the one hand, city government will, over the next few months, answer the question of how Chicago will set its priorities, provide for essential services, and allocate the $2 billion or so it will take […]
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City Hall: How Low They Can Go
An article on Chicago politics that appeared last summer on the front page of the Wall Street Journal contained one memorable passage. Chicago is no longer “the city that works,” the authors wrote; it is now “Beirut on the Lake”? The Beirut metaphor has stuck and is now part of the local political lexicon; during […]