Wednesday, Jan 06, 2021 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Sacred Ground: A Conversation with Timuel D. Black, Jr.

Add to Calendar 2021-01-06 12:00:00 2021-01-06 13:00:00 Sacred Ground: A Conversation with Timuel D. Black, Jr. Zoom See event details. Online (See Body Text) L2 donotreply@librarylearning.org America/Chicago public

About This Event

The ILA Noon Network, in partnership with the ILA Intellectual Freedom Committee. , is honored to present nationally respected educator, political activist, community leader, oral historian, philanthropist, and philosopher Timuel D. Black, Jr. During this special event, Mr. Black will discuss his book, Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black. This free event is open to all Illinois libraries. Registration is required and space is limited.

Sacred Ground opens in 1919, during the summer of the Chicago race riot, when infant Black and his family arrive in Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama, as part of the first Great Migration.

He recounts in vivid detail his childhood and education in the Black Metropolis of Bronzeville and South Side neighborhoods that make up his "sacred ground." Revealing a priceless trove of experiences, memories, ideas, and opinions, Black describes how it felt to belong to this place, even when stationed in Europe during World War II. He relates how African American soldiers experienced challenges and conflicts during the war, illuminating how these struggles foreshadowed the civil rights movement.

A labor organizer, educator, and activist, Black captures fascinating anecdotes and vignettes of meeting with famous figures of the times, such as Duke Ellington and Martin Luther King Jr., but also with unheralded people whose lives convey lessons about striving, uplift, and personal integrity.

Contact Tamara Jenkins at tjenkins@ila.org for questions.

Details

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