About this Event
Please join us in welcoming Arionne Nettles to celebrate the release of We Are the Culture: Black Chicago's Influence on Everything! For this event, Arionne will be joined in conversation by journalist Atavia Reed.
Please note: This event is free to attend, but registration is required. By registering, you agree to wear a face mask during the entire duration of the event.
Journalist Arionne Nettles believes it is time Black Chicagoans receive the acclaim, the honor, and the acknowledgment of their contributions to American culture and recognition of where they truly came from.
During the Great Migration, more than a half-million Black Americans moved from the South to Chicago, and with them, they brought the blues, amplifying what would be one of the city’s greatest musical artforms. In 1958, the iconic Johnson Publishing Company, the voice of Black America, launched the Ebony Fashion Fair show, leading to the creation of the first makeup brand for Black skin. For three decades starting in the 1970s, households across the country were transported to a stage birthed in Chicago as they moved their hips in front of TV screens airing Soul Train.
Chicago is where Oprah Winfrey, a Black woman who did not have the “traditional look” TV managers pushed on talent, premiered her talk show, which went on to break every record possible and solidify her position as the “Queen of Daytime TV.” It’s where Hall of Famer Michael Jordan led the Bulls to six championships, including two three-peats, making the NBA a must-see attraction worldwide and wearing Jordans a style symbol to this day. And it’s home to Grammy winner Chance the Rapper, whose work honors the city’s cultural institutions, from the White Sox to modern art superstar Hebru Brantley.
It all happened right here, in Chicago, and for the past century, Black Chicago’s influence has permeated not just the city but really what we see today as modern-day pop culture throughout the country, and in some ways, the world.
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Arionne Nettles is a university lecturer, culture reporter, and audio aficionado. Her stories often look into Chicago history, culture, gun violence, policing, and race and class disparities, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Reader, the Trace, Chicago public television station WTTW, and NPR affiliate WBEZ. She is a lecturer and the director of audio journalism programming at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism as well as host of the HBCU history podcast Bragging Rights and Is That True? A Kids Podcast About Facts.
Atavia Reed reports on Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods for Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit news site dedicated to covering the city’s neighborhoods. Previously, Reed was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune Media Group covering suburban news for the Pioneer Press, including stories on the pandemic’s effect on senior living and education. A multimedia journalist, Reed says she was once described as “too nosey for her own good” and decided to make a career out of it. She’s covered culture and news for USA Today, VICE, the Chicago Tribune, South Side Weekly and the Chicago Reader. Reed holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was the assistant editor for the school’s culture magazine, Buzz, contributed a narrative feature to the local paper and spent a semester studying dramatic writing at New York University.
Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email [email protected] by no later than 14 days before the event. For other questions or access needs, please email [email protected].
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Women & Children First, 5233 North Clark Street, Chicago, United States
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