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Richard Stamz, Pervis Spann, and Carl Wright: They Don’t Make ‘Em Like That Any More.

Black, Blog

Blues & More was a local Chicago talk show on cable channel 25 during the 1980s and 1990s. It combined host and entertainment entrepreneur Pervis Spann’s offbeat sense of humor with music videos from R & B and blues artists. In this 1994 episode of Blues & More, Spann talks with movie actor and performer Carl Wright and longtime Chicago radio personality Richard Stamz, about Stamz’s career across a changing entertainment industry. Carl Wright was 59 at the time of […]
The Roosevelt Experiment

Black, Chicago, Harold Washington

Why and how did an integrated college in a segregated city start in downtown Chicago just as World War II was ending? In 1984 an independent documentary filmmaker, Jeff Spitz, found old pictures and film footage about Roosevelt University including a magazine article that referred to the school as “The Roosevelt Experiment.”

Tapping the memories of former students who crossed the color line, particularly Blacks and Jews, the film blends archival images and interviews into an exploration of race, racial quotas and democratic ideals. Former students recall being questioned during an anti-communist investigation that targeted their school.

Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, a former student council president, shares poignant memories of getting into political
arguments in the cafeteria. He called it an “insane but interesting place.”

Shortly after the film’s release Spitz returned to City Hall to interview Mayor Washington about fairness, diversity and clashing visions of government. Mayor Washington’s additional commentary appears at the end of the video.
A Video Celebration of Black Chicago

Black, Blog, Chicago, Communities

This video showcases Media Burn’s videos documenting Black life in Chicago. It includes everything from neighborhood cultural festivals to jazz and blues legends to trailblazing politicians. Follow the links to watch the full programs from which these excerpts were taken. 0:09 Journalist Vernon Jarrett (1918-2004) describes the intersection of 47th and Martin Luther King Drive in Bronzeville as the “terminal point of the great dream that so many Black people [from the South] envisioned,” from Omnibus: Studs Terkel’s Chicago (1985, […]
Organization of the Northeast (O.N.E.) Community Meeting with Terry Gabinski

Chicago, CLIR, Communities, Roots of Video

This video was recorded in Uptown, Chicago. It was a victory for the O.N.E’s Community Task Force to have the District Police Commander Terry Gabinski, come to a community meeting. Everyone from the community had an opportunity to voice their concerns on empty lots, vacant burnt-out buildings and crime in their neighbourhood.
Chicago Area Project (C.A.P.) Gathering in Woodstock, Illinois

Black, Chicago, CLIR, Roots of Video

This video is one of three and was recorded during a retreat in Woodstock, Illinois where the Chicago Area Project (C.A.P.), organised a weekend gathering to reflect on their past accomplishments and plan for the next year.
Festival De Mujeres

Chicago, Communities, Eleanor Boyer, Latinx, Videomakers

Taped at the first-ever women’s street fair held in Pilsen, a predominantly Latinx, working-class neighborhood in Chicago. The event was organized by Mujeres Latinas in Accion to showcase Latinx women’s culture and to provide information about social services, health services and recreational opportunities available for women. The video captures the activity and color of the fair and features readings by poets Salima Rivera and Marta Callazo. Comments by organizers, participants and local residents give insight into the role of Latinx women in society at that time. Produced, videotaped, and edited by Eleanor Boyer and Karen Peugh with a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
La Maestra: Maria Luisa Michel Almonte

Chicago, Communities, Eleanor Boyer, Latinx, Videomakers

Maria Almonte immigrated from Mexico to Chicago’s Pilsen–Little Village neighborhood in 1950. An
artist/teacher, she supported her family from her flower shop business and became a leader in the
educational and cultural life of the community. She taught traditional arts, crafts, and practical skills

like dress-making in settlement houses, in community workshops and in her own studio. At the age of
70 she continued to teach and act on her belief that artistic expression is a powerful tool for
developing cultural identity and individual self-esteem. The video shows Ms. Almonte in community-
sponsored workshops teaching neighborhood residents how to make traditional cut-paper ornaments
and how to design clothing. In the hall of a local church her students model their creations and receive
recognition. Produced, directed and edited by Eleanor Boyer and Karen Peugh. Partially funded by
the Illinois Arts Council and the Center for New Television with a Joyce Foundation grant.
Gold Can Award, Chicago Access Corporation, 1986; Certificate of Merit, Chicago International
Film Festival, 1984
In Memory of Frank Sullivan (1930-2021)

Black, Blog, Chicago, Chicago Politics, Communities, Politics, Tom Weinberg

Frank Sullivan, press secretary for Mayor Richard J. Daley from 1971-1976, died June 18 at the age of 91. Prior to working for Daley, he served as spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department during the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests. Television viewers around the world then were shocked at live broadcasts of police beating anti-imperialist demonstrators. This was unprecedented violence and the origin of the now-famous protest cry, “The whole world is watching!” The independent Kerner Commission report determined that […]