Black Wall Street Journey: The Economics of Black Chicago
A virtual conversation with cultural and business leaders Rick Lowe and John W. Rogers, Jr.
Join us for a discussion of Black wealth-building in Chicago, focusing on the challenges, gains, and opportunities being made by Black businesses, entrepreneurs, and residents.
This conversation is presented with the current exhibition Toward Common Cause: Art, Social Change, and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40 and the Black Wall Street Journey project—a hub for neighborhood regeneration initiated by Lowe in Washington Park. The talk is also anchored by the centennial anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and observation of the historic Black Wall Street.
Register for the conversation
Presented by the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, Booth School of Business, and Arts + Public Life.
Program video
Featured speakers
Rick Lowe
Artist; MacArthur Fellow; professor of art, University of Houston; and 2018–2021 Neubauer Collegium Visiting Fellow
John W. Rogers, Jr.
Chairman and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, Inc.; vice chair of the Board of Trustees, the University of Chicago; and great-grandson of J.B. Stradford, the “founder” of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street
Moderator
Valerie Van Meter
CEO, Parity Partners, LLC, and former senior vice president and chief diversity officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Related
Urban Juncture revitalizes disinvested Black urban communities by rebuilding neighborhood commerce around culture and innovation. Urban Juncture’s five core Build Bronzeville initiatives work together to support and advance locally-owned, culture-based enterprises and catalyze neighborhood revitalization. Plan your visit Visit Black Wall Street Journey space at Urban Juncture during regular Wednesday pop-up markets, happening every other week…
In his first Chicago-based “social sculpture,” Rick Lowe is developing Black Wall Street Journey. The multifaceted city-wide project pays tribute to the building of Black wealth, using public art to tell the stories from the journeys of Black communities in Chicago and beyond. Black Wall Street Journey builds on the connection between Chicago and Tulsa, home…
The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago is a site for rigorous inquiry and exchange that encourages the examination of complex issues through the lens of art objects and artistic practice. Plan your visit Visits to the Smart Museum of Art are free, but reservations are recommended. Open Tuesday–Sunday 10 am–5 pm;…
I first began to explore art in a social context after being challenged by a high school student who looked at my earlier political work and said it wasn’t what people needed. People needed solutions. And he said, if you are an artist and you are creative, why can’t you create a solution? That was the turning point that got me thinking about how to produce work that was not only symbolic and poetic but also had a practical application.
As a neighborhood platform for arts and culture in Washington Park, Arts + Public Life provides residencies for Black and Brown artists and creative entrepreneurs, arts education for youth, and artist-led programming and exhibitions. Plan your visit Visits to the Arts Incubator are by timed reservation. Learn more about special hours and make a reservation…
The Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society explores new possibilities for humanistic research by fostering an environment in which new forms of thinking emerge and thrive. Neubauer Collegium gallery exhibitions provide space for scholars, artists, practitioners, and the general public to engage with the arts in the context of collaborative research. Plan your visit By…