Bronzeville History Symposium: "From the Rooter to the Tooter"

Join the Bronzeville Trail Task Force and the Office of Community Affairs and Outreach Programs on March 17 at 2 p.m. in the Schulz Auditorium in Michael Paul Galvin Tower, for a Bronzeville history symposium titled “From the Rooter to the Tooter.” During the “Great Migration,” rural African American women and men became a significant source of labor for Chicago’s meat packing industry. The symposium will explore how African Americans found work in Chicago’s meat packing industry and became a key segment of Chicago’s growing Black middle class during the “Great Migration.” The event and parking are free! Attendees should park in the visitors parking lot across the street on State Street between 35th and 34th under the Green Line tracks.

2–3 p.m.

First Panel—History of the Chicago Union Stock Yards and the Stock Yard Line

Panelists:

• Julia Berkewitz, board member, Illinois Labor History Society

• Ralph Moore, CPA, former controller, Parker House Sausage

• Duane Wulf, professor, University of Arizona, designer and publisher of the Union Stockyards board game

3–4 p.m.

Second Panel—The Great Migration and Emergence of Chicago’s Black Middle Class

Moderator—Zenobia Johnson-Black

Panelists:

• Lionel Kimble, vice president and executive director of the Research and Policy Center, Chicago Urban League, and author of A New Deal for Bronzeville: Housing, Employment & Civil Rights in Black Chicago 1935–1955

• Dominic A. Pacyga, emeritus professor of history, Columbia College/Chicago and Curator of Packingtown Museum

• Sherry Williams, MLIS, president and founder, Bronzeville Historical Society