Resources in the Spotlight

In 1893, the 27.5 million visitors to the Chicago World's Fair feasted their eyes on the impressive architecture of the White City, lit at night by thousands of electric lights. In addition to marveling at the revolutionary exhibits, most visitors discovered something else: beyond the fair's 633 acres lay a modern metropolis that rivaled the world's greatest cities. The Columbian Exposition marked Chicago's arrival on the world stage, but even without the splendor of the fair, 1893 would still have been Chicago's greatest year. An almost endless list of achievements took place in Chicago in 1893.Summary taken from book.

For more than a century, Chicago's skyline has included some of the world's most distinctive and inspiring buildings. This history of the Windy City's skyscrapers begins in the key period of reconstruction after the Great Fire of 1871 and concludes in 1934 with the onset of the Great Depression, which brought architectural progress to a standstill.

This book links key events in Chicago's development, from its marshy origins in the 1600s to today's robust metropolis. The book presents Chicago in terms of the people whose lives made the city–from the tycoons and the politicians to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world. This revised and updated second edition brings Chicago's story into the twenty-first century, as it reviews the colorful and dramatic panorama of the city's explosive past. Summary taken from the book.

This book looks at the social and cultural changes in Chicago that shaped soul music (or R&B) in the city primarily during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as how the musicians and their audiences became change agents. A key argument is that more than just a series of hits or a monolithic sound, R&B from this time and place reflected significant stylistic differences and became a crucial source of black empowerment. Curtis Mayfield, The Chi-Lites, Chaka Khan, and Jerry Butler are some of the musicians who are highlighted in the narrative as are the influences that shaped their work. Summary taken from the book.

This is the first full history of Operation Breadbasket, the interfaith economic justice program that transformed into Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH (now the Rainbow PUSH Coalition). Begun by Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1966 Chicago Freedom Movement, Breadbasket was directed by Jackson. Author Martin L. Deppe was one of Breadbasket's founding pastors. He digs deeply into the program's past to update the meager narrative about Breadbasket, add details to King's and Jackson's roles, and tell Breadbasket's little-known story. Under the motto "Your Ministers Fight for Jobs and Rights," the program put bread on the tables of the city's African American families in the form of steady jobs. Summary taken from the book.

Sophonisba Breckinridge (1866-1948) was involved in virtually every reform--including legal aid for immigrants, civil rights for blacks, labor legislation for workers, juvenile courts for youth, and citizenship rights for women--of both the Progressive and New Deal eras. She also played an important role in the development of the welfare state. As a social scientist, a social worker, and a public policy consultant, she played a key role in the development and the implementation of the 1935 Social Security Act. Summary taken from the book.

Hidden gems from Chicago's past Tales of Forgotten Chicago contains twenty-one fascinating, little-known stories about a great city and its people.