University News

Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and WIU Professor Peter Cole.
[Download Print-Quality Image]

Public Art Project Founded by WIU Professor Awarded $200,000 Grant; Annual Historical Bike Tour Planned for July 22

July 5, 2023

Share |
Printer friendly version

MACOMB, IL – A public art project, started by a Western Illinois University History professor to commemorate the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, has received a $200,000 grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and Chicago Monuments Project.

This is the second award to the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19) has been presented by DCASE. In 2022 the office awarded the project $50,000 for planning and implementation work.

The CRR19 organization was founded in 2019, by WIU History Professor Peter Cole, who had a goal to place 38 permanent glass markers around the city to commemorate where each of 38 lives was lost during the riots—the worst episode of racial violence in city history and a major factor in the subsequent segregation of the city that still exists to this day. The markers are being crafted by Firebird Community Arts.

"The Race Riots remain the deadliest incident of racial violence in the city's history," said Cole. "We are thrilled to receive this award which will enable us, along with our partners at Firebird Community Arts and Organic Oneness, to greatly uplift this history by using public art to encourage people walking the streets of Chicago the opportunity to learn about this history for generations to come."

Co-directors of CRR19, Cole and Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay, director of the University of Chicago Medicine's Violence Recovery Program, were among the recipients who attended the event at the Green Line Performing Arts Center, where they formally received the award from Mayor Brandon Johnson.

"This grant empowers us to ignite change, promote healing, and create a more inclusive future for all," said Cosey-Gay. "We believe that by commemorating the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, we can shed light on a forgotten chapter of our city's history and foster meaningful dialogue about the enduring impacts of racism including segregation."

This year also marks the fifth time the CRR19 project will host a historic tour by bike and trolley to provide information uplift this history which has been "forgotten" for too long. On Saturday, July 22, the organization will host a two-hour, nine stop tour of the Bronzeville and Bridgeport neighborhoods to explore "the histories of Black migration, struggle and institution building that contributed to the development of Chicago's Black community." For the past four years, this event has drawn hundreds of participants to learn more about the project and the history.

The grant awarded to the project was one of eight funded by DCASE through a $6.8 million gift from The Mellon Foundation. All of the funded projects are part of creating new monuments and continuing to engage local artists and communities.

The original idea for the project came when Cole was visiting Germany and saw markers, called Stolpersteine or "stumbling stones," placed to remember victims of the Holocaust.

For more information on the project, visit bit.ly/CRR19TOUR.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing