History

Forty Years Ago, Harold Washington Was Elected Mayor of Chicago

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is the second Black man to be elected to office (Eugene Sawyer was appointed), almost 40 years after Harold Washington won election to become the first Black mayor of Chicago.

Ruth Ellen Church on a cooking television show with children

Nine Chicago Women Who Found Success in Food Before the Age of the Celebrity Chef

Even today there is a huge disparity in the number of women head chefs, but achieving success in the food industry earlier on was even less common. Meet some of the women who influenced Chicago and America's attitudes towards food.

Mary Field Parton and Ruby Hammerstrom Darrow in a black-and-white image

The Little-Known Social Worker and Writer Who Embodied Chicago’s Role as a “Cauldron” for Social Movements

Though the history books rarely mention her, social worker and avant-garde writer Mary Field Parton embodies Chicago's role as a focal point of political and social movements.

The First Black Catholic Priest—a Candidate for Sainthood—and His Importance to Chicago

Father Augustus Tolton escaped slavery in Missouri to become the first openly recognized Black Catholic priest, ministering in Quincy, Illinois and establishing the first standalone Black Catholic church in Chicago. While there are currently no African American saints, he is currently a candidate for sainthood.

The Woman Who Invented Monopoly (Sort of)

The Illinoisan and Chicagoan Lizzie Magie invented a board game at the turn of the twentieth century as a teaching tool on behalf of anti-land ownership ideals. It later influenced Monopoly. Discover her story in an excerpt from a new American Experience documentary on Monopoly.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Memorial in Chicago's Marquette Park

Eight Things to Watch and Read on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, and his birthday is honored as a federal holiday. Celebrate the civil rights hero in a variety of stories about his legacy, time in Chicago, and more.

John Larson (left) and August Vollmer interrogate an unknown Berkeley undergraduate in 1921 or 1922

Why America Is the Only Country That Embraced the Lie Detector—and Chicago’s Role in Its Rise

The technology behind the lie detector is basic and available around the world, but only America has used it extensively over the decades, thanks in part to pioneering work in forensics in Chicago that attempted to address the city's notorious crime.

A holiday card with a horse-drawn carriage and poem

Get in the Spirit with Vintage Holiday Cards from the Chicago History Museum

From dogs in sweaters offering each other gifts to "Dickensian Christmas" scenes to personalized illustrations of graphic design and avant-garde art, the holiday cards in the Chicago History Museum's collection showcase a broad array of styles, and reveal how similar we are to people of the past.

Street scene at Chicago Theatre near State and Randolph Streets, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1952. Photo: Chicago History Museum, ICHi-019349; J. Sherwin Murphy, photographer

Revisiting the Biting Articles That Branded Chicago the "Second City"

Seventy years ago, the New Yorker writer and New York City native A.J. Liebling published a series of articles about Chicago that saw the city as a "not-quite-metropolis" imbued with a "collective sense of disappointment." Was he right?

How to Watch the Next January 6 Committee Hearing, Likely Its Last

The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol is holding its next public hearing on Monday, December 19 at 12:00 pm CT. The hearing will likely be the last held by the committee, which is expected to release its final report on December 21.