Running Tour of A Few Red Drops

Read & Run Chicago is partnering with the The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19) and Lookingglass Theater for a special, one-of-a-kind running tour commemorating the 1919 Chicago Race Riot on the same day and in the same place the multi-day riots began over 100 years ago.

The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 is long forgotten, despite its huge impact on the subsequent shape and development of the city. Runners will stop at various locations in Bronzeville featured in Claire Hartfield’s book and learn more about the devastating and lasting impact the events had on the city. Starting and ending from the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach), this running event includes an easy-paced, 5-mile loop in Bronzeville featuring TikTok Historian Sherman Dilla, author Arionne Nettles, CRR19 director Peter Cole, and Dan Duster, great grandson of Ida B. Wells. At the end of our route, runners will have the option to watch the free Lookingglass Theater performance of , an artistic ritual featuring music, movement, art and word, commemorating the start of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot.

This event is child friendly, so parents: please feel free to bring your children to start teaching them about this important event in our city’s history!

Here's what else you need to know:

MEET: Plan to meet the group between 5-5:15pm on Saturday, July 27 at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach). We strongly recommend you arrive by public transportation, bike/Divvy, or ride share. If you decide to drive, please read here for driving and parking directions and plan to arrive with enough time to find nearby parking.

ROUTE: We'll run an easy-paced (~11:00 min/mile), 5-mile loop starting and ending at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach).

END: Our run ends at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach) by 6:55pm. We will stay to watch Lookingglass Theater’s free outdoor performance of , an artistic ritual featuring music, movement, art and word, commemorating the start of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot.

We will provide light bites and some fuel samples, but we encourage you to bring food and picnic supplies to enjoy while watching the performance.

All registered runners will receive reminder details two days and four hours prior to the event. This event has limited spots. All ticket fees will go towards payment of speakers, operational costs, and a donation to CRR19.

OPTIONAL PREPARE: As this is a RUNNING TOUR it is optional to read the book inspiring the route. If you'd like to read Claire Hartfield's prior to this event, we encourage you to borrow a copy from your local branch of the Chicago Public Library (here's how to get a card if you don't have one). If you prefer to purchase the book visit your favorite indie bookstore.

INCLEMENT WEATHER PLAN: If it becomes unsafe to run outside, we announce an alternative plan. You will be notified via email no later than 4pm on Saturday, July 27 if there are any changes to the event.

BIKING THE ROUTE: If you love the idea of this but prefer to bike this route, you are welcome so long as you manage your own safety. We’d still love to have you!

All registered runners will receive reminder details two days and four hours prior to the event.

About The Speakers:

• Peter Cole: Peter Cole is a professor of history at Western Illinois University and a research associate in the Society, Work and Development Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Cole is the author of the award-winning Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area and Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia. He has also edited Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly and co-edited Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW.
  
• Sherman Dilla: Chicago historian Dilla, as he is affectionately called, is a fascinating blend of modern historian, cultural worker, and public employee. Dilla has become a Chicago social media sensation by going viral on Tiktok. His 60 second history videos on everything Chicago have been viewed over 20 million times, and he has amassed a following of 210K followers across all social media platforms. Dilla has been featured on all manner of Chicago media and has also appeared nationally on both The Today Show and The Kelly Clarkson Show. Dilla is a proud life long resident of Chicago's South side. He lives by the saying that everything dope about America comes from Chicago. Read more about Dilla here.
  
• Arionne Nettles: Arionne Nettles is a university lecturer, culture reporter, and audio aficionado. Her stories often look into Chicago history, culture, gun violence, policing, and race & class disparities, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Opinion, Chicago Reader, The Trace, Chicago PBS station WTTW, and NPR affiliate WBEZ. She is a lecturer and the director of audio journalism programming at Northwestern University’s Medill School as well as host of the HBCU history podcast Bragging Rights and Is That True? A Kids Podcast About Facts. Her book, We Are the Culture: Black Chicago’s Influence on Everything, will be published by Chicago Review Press in 2024.
  
• Dan Duster: Dan Duster is a motivational speaker and facilitator. Dan’s passions are youth empowerment, social justice and community development. As the great grandson of Ida B. Wells, he talks about her struggles and triumphs in the late 1800’s to motivate audiences to overcome the obstacles we face today and Stand Up against injustices in the workplace and our communities. Learn more about him here.

About CRR19: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19) exists to commemorate the worst incident of racial violence in the city’s history. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 is long forgotten, despite its huge impact on the subsequent shape and development of the city. CRR19 will offer a powerful model for how to use dispersed public art to remember past atrocities and provoke conversations about their legacy to ignite conversations about racism, past and present, in Chicago and the nation. Inspired by Stolpersteine, an ongoing German project to honor Holocaust victims, we intend to create and install artistic markers at each of the 38 locations where someone was killed in 1919. Formally launched on the 100th anniversary of the 1919 riot, we believe that now is the moment for Chicago to confront its bloodiest chapter and heal the wounds that time alone has not. We must remember America’s troubled past of racial violence and white supremacy if we wish to improve the future. To move towards racial equality and justice by creating chances for more discussions and more challenging ones about race and racism, past and present.

About : Founded in 1988 by graduates of Northwestern University, Lookingglass Theatre Company is a nationwide leader in the creation and presentation of new, cutting-edge theatrical works and in sharing its ensemble-based theatrical techniques with Chicago-area students and teachers through Education and Community Programs. Guided by an artistic vision centered on the core values of collaboration, transformation, and invention, Lookingglass seeks to capture audiences’ imaginations leaving them changed, charged and empowered.

Read & Run Chicago is a chapter of Read & Run Tours, LLC, the country’s first and only organization that hosts running events inspired by books. Founded in 2021 by queer educator, freelance writer, and runner Allison Yates, the mission of Read & Run Tours, LLC and the city chapters is to use movement and stories to explore locations. Our community-focused run programming includes running tours, book club runs, author talks, and other literary-themed fun runs all inspired by books set in the cities where chapters are located, written by local authors. While connecting runners to the city’s stories, we also actively support literacy programs, public libraries, independent bookstores, and local authors.

In Chicago, we have hosted more than 60 events (in English and Spanish) for over 300 Chicagoans, featuring over 30 authors or local experts, and we have been featured in various media outlets including CNN, Runner’s World, Midwest Living, NBC’s Chicago Today, Fox32 Good Day Chicago, WGN Radio, Block Chicago, and more.

More information at readandrunchicago.com, Instagram, and Facebook.

Stay in touch: Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: https://www.readandrunchicago.com/contact-us

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

125 Fort Dearborn Dr, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago, United States