Region marks Black history
Storytelling, virtual Underground Railroad Walks among events
Determined to keep Black History Month at the forefront in February despite pandemic restrictions that have persisted for nearly a year, many Southland organizations have come up with creative solutions to keep local residents engaged in the subject.
Among them is Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, which doubled down on Black History Month activities this year. It started Feb. 6, with a virtual program called From Sand Ridge to Freedom Road.
The program, outlining how the area connected the Chicago-toDetroit route of the Underground Railroad, was broadcast on Facebook Live that afternoon. The presentation remains available on the nature center’s Facebook page.
Stephen DeFalco, director of the nature center, which is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, said the presentation was largely designed to address the question of “why here?” It focused on the geographical significance of the area to those who were trying to cut through it to get to Canada. He called that presentation a little more traditional compared to the narrative style of Sand Ridge’s second Black History Month event.
In-person — albeit self-guided — Underground Railroad Walks are slated for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 27, to conclude Sand Ridge’s Black History Month offerings. The journey follows the Underground Railroad route that connected to the Calumet region in the mid-1800s. DeFalco said that the walk chronicles the trials and tribulations that would have been faced by those seeking freedom on an “average trip” from St. Louis to the area.
“It’s more immersive, narrative driven,” he said.
DeFalco said the walks build upon those the center has been offering for roughly eight years during its Juneteenth celebrations. Still, people have a tough time believing that the Underground Railroad history has connections to the Southland.
“We’ve done this kind of programming for a while now, and we still get people who have no idea,” he said. “They think that history was somewhere else.”
But DeFalco said there are well known roads and bridges in the
area now that have direct connections to that history, with upward of 3,000 freedom seekers using the route between the 1820s and 1860s.
“It wasn’t a small tributary,” DeFalco said. “These are all roads people take everyday without realizing the history of them. Programming like this is a really great opportunity.”
No registration is required for the walks.
A long tradition of storytelling
Flossmoor will present Story Time with Mama Edie virtually at flossmoor.org on Feb. 20. The 45-minute presentation by Edith Armstrong has components in Spanish and English for older children and adults will focus on voting rights and social justice.
“I will talk about various movements that have been affected by voting,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong, a Chicagoan, has been telling stories professionally for roughly three decades. A member of ASE — The Chicago Association of Black Storytellers, she said a big part of what drives her is the human dignity at the heart of her stories. Being denied that dignity has been a “very tough thing” for many cultures over generations, she said. Armstrong sees her stories as a way to give voice to that struggle.
“There are stories that can reach across generations,” she said. “It’s important for me that we help to inspire a shift in consciousness.”
Armstrong said that thankfully that shift has been happening to some degree in the past year, but there is still plenty of work to be done. She hopes to encourage those who truly believe in freedom through her stories, so that everyone can live more peaceful and harmonious lives. She hopes the tales resonate, in particular, with her younger audiences.
“Young people are malleable,” she said. “We know they absorb whatever is around them.”
Participants are also being encouraged to have musical instruments of their choice at the ready for the interactive experience. Armstrong said she likes to blend traditional storytelling with music because she associates many historical movements with the soundtracks of those times — all part of a collective consciousness.
Storytelling has changed drastically for Armstrong over the past year. In March, she had almost all of her contracts canceled as lockdowns took hold in the pandemic. She shifted for a while to coaching people informally who wanted to pursue storytelling. Grants she received as a professional artist helped her to keep things going, and virtual events such as her upcoming Flossmoor story time changed the game — maybe even for the better.
“That has been good,” she said. “The fact that we have become virtual has actually increased opportunities.”
People must register for the event at flossmoor.org beforehand, and the Village will share details for the Zoom meeting.
Elsewhere in the Southland
The Flossmoor Public Library is offering screenings of the documentary “The Long Shadow” from Feb. 19-26 in partnership with other libraries at thelongshadowfilm.com/libraries. The film traces director Frances Causey’s family legacy of white privilege in the historical context of antiBlack racism in the United States.
No registration is required to view the film, but at 7 p.m. Feb. 24, the libraries are to hold a live Q&A on Zoom with Causey. Registration for that is required at the aforementioned website.
Saint Xavier University in Chicago’s Mt. Greenwood neighborhood also announced an extensive slate of Black History Month virtual events, all open to the public.
“Revisiting the Past and Looking Toward the Future: How Society has Dealt with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 1919-2021” is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 17. In that program, Tracy Crump will explore the causes of social unrest in Chicago over the last century.