Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

Phyllida Lloyd's production of Julius Caesar, which you can watch through Great Performances, takes place in a women's prison, with women playing all the roles. We discussed the production, the effectiveness of the setting, and the gender casting with a Shakespeare scholar. 

This year's finalists for the James Beard Awards, often called the Oscars of Food, have been announced. As usual, Chicago has its fair share of nominees: fourteen, in eight distinct categories, plus two more for cookbooks. Find the list, plus reviews, interviews, and recipes from the finalists here.

Even prominent female groundbreakers are rarely recognized – there are approximately 40 figurative statues of men in Chicago but only two of women – so what about equally important pioneers who have been forgotten, from activists to literary figures to businesswomen?

Stephanie Hart, a semifinalist for the national James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker, conjures up childhood memories with her luscious cakes at Brown Sugar Bakery – and she's trying to use her success as a prominent African American bakery to revitalize neighborhoods.

In honor of Sesame Street's 50th anniversary, the United States Postal Service is issuing sixteen stamps with some of the most beloved characters from the show, including Big Bird, Julia, Bert and Ernie, Abby Cadabby, and more!

As Chicago prepares to elect its first female African American mayor, take a look back at Jane Byrne, the first woman to break the mayoral glass ceiling, standing up to the powerful Democratic machine in the process and winning in Chicago's biggest political upset.

Season three of Victoria is over, but there's still a lot more history to explore. Learn about some of the people, events and medical trends of the day, from Emily Palmerston to the Great Exhibition to cruel pseudosciences. 

With the opening of the Great Exhibition approaching, Albert is working himself to death to insure its success. Palmerston once again makes an unpopular decision, Feo miscalculates in her schemes, and Sophie has an enormous decision to make. 

March is Women's History Month, so we’re spotlighting some incredible women, ranging from the everyday to the famous, the unfairly unknown to the household name, the fictional to the real, in documentaries and series. 

“[Leon] Despres has been told to shut up – in one form or another – more than any grown man in Chicago," Mike Royko once wrote. "Throughout his career, he has been in the forefront of just about every decent, worthwhile effort to improve life in this city."

An incident in Athens leads to an international crisis that threatens to end Palmerston's political career, while Albert undertakes an ambitious project to host a grand exhibition in London, despite public disapproval and the possibility of failure.

While serving as a porter on a Pullman Palace car was one of the better jobs available to African American men, it still had its indignities. Frustrated that they did not share in the gains of their white colleagues, the porters formed the first successful black union in the country. 

The "King of Soul" grew up in Bronzeville and cut his teeth performing in churches and on streets in the city, striving to be the next Nat "King" Cole, who had attended the same high school as Cooke. 

Watch Sammy Davis, Jr. on the pioneering show "Our People," the first televised weekly forum for black issues, discuss the ongoing empowerment of African Americans in 1968. "Don't let 'em pigeonhole me, man, cuz I will not allow myself as a black individual to be pigeonholed," he says.

The collection includes iconic episodes that feature such moments as Ernie singing "Rubber Duckie, You're the One;" Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green;" Big Bird's reckoning with the death of a friend in "Farewell, Mr. Hooper;" and other classics.