Blog

New Philadelphia: Family Legacy, National History

Free Frank McWorter rescued his family from slavery and then established a town in Illinois.

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Black sororities: a legacy of sisterhood

Items on loan from Springfield's African American sororities tell a century-long story of women helping women.

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Meet James Henry Lewis, a free Black man who sought freedom for all

Born into slavery, he died a century later as an attorney and community leader

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“The Blues Are the Roots” — Willie Dixon is Born on July 1, 1915

Born in Mississippi, Willie Dixon came to Illinois to help transform the Blues.

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An elegy for Jim Gray

Document offers a peek into an escape from slavery

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Booker T. Washington Visits the Lincoln Home

One champion of racial equality visits the home of another.

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When Chicago stood still: the CTW strike of 1968

When a small group of bus drivers went on strike in Chicago, it was not just a strike against the city. It was a strike against the drivers' own union.

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An African American Civil War Hero

How did Andrew Jackson Smith distinguish himself during the Battle of Honey Hill on November 30, 1864?

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