Black History Month is coming to a close this weekend but there’s no reason to stop learning about and celebrating African American achievements. While Washington Park’s DuSable Museum of African American History is closed to visitors at the moment (they’re observing safety measures in regard to COVID-19 transmission) their website has free videos featuring Black thought leaders and historians in conversation, as well as lesson plans and other resources for teachers. Pre-COVID closings, the museum was slated to host “The March,” starting on Sunday, a virtual reality-infused exhibit co-created with Time magazine that recreates the groundbreaking 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Fortunately, there’s an online version of the exhibit on view until DuSable Museum is able to safely re-open for visitors. Check it out here.
The nonprofit Que4 Radio has been hosting virtual concerts and web series all month, and they’re wrapping up on Sunday night with a line-up of great Chicago talent from our jazz and hip-hop scenes. All Power to the People: a Black Panther Party Tribute Celebration will feature performances from Angel Bat Dawid, Sam Trump, and Phenom, and will be hosted by Drunken Monkeee, who curated the evening. Watch for free on Que4’s website, Sunday 2/28 at 7 PM.
Finally, be sure to check out writer Tara C. Mahadevan’s profile of artist Brandon Breaux, and his Instagram project highlighting his personal Black heroes with 28 Days of Greatness.
More to read and explore:
- A profile at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s website about Chicago folk and children’s music treasure Ella Jenkins, and her involvement in the Civil Rights movement. There’s a documentary about her in the works from director Tim Ferrin and Morning Bugle Productions and you can help them fundraise here. And for more on Ms. Jenkins, read Steve Bogira’s interview with her for our 2014 People issue.
- New York’s Printed Matter bookstore hosts a huge and excellent art book fair each year and 2021’s online version means that more of our Chicago artists and art book vendors were able to participate. You can purchase books and watch programming at each vendor’s online “booth” (individual pages on the fair’s website), and it’s a diverse list of Chicagoans: Almighty and Insane Books, Candor Arts, Christopher Branson, Other Forms, Perfectly Acceptable Press, the Renaissance Society, Soberscove, and Temporary Services/Half Letter Press. I should say in full disclosure that I’m a former member of Temporary Services as well as a friend and fan of several of these entities. And now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, make sure to check out my friends in Temporary Services talk with Mariame Kaba (subject of this recent interview by writer Ariel Parrella-Aureli) on Sunday at 5:45 PM.
And more:
- Mon 3/1, 7 PM: Former Chicagoan Jim O’Rourke performs and talks with Ken Vandermark as part of the Experimental Sound Studio’s Option series.
- Thu 3/4: The Co-Prosperity Sphere kicks off a month-long exhibition viewable in its windows from transdisciplinary Chicago artist Hereaclitus. “At the Yellow Windows” is inspired by the artist’s personal battle with COVID-19, and will be accompanied by live performances streamed at Lumpen TV at 8 PM each Thursday through April 1. Check out the exhibit in person through the windows at 3219 S. Morgan in Bridgeport.
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