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Tag: History
American Violence and Southern Culture
By Whet Moser
Why is America so much more violent—in particular, so much more homicidal—than other developed countries? One vein of history and social science suggests that its roots are in the South, and the British borderland culture that it originated in. Read more
The Early History of Segregation in Chicago
By Whet Moser
Between the 1919 race riot and the end of the Great Migration, segregation went from specter of racial strife to legal doctrine, aided by the law and economic writings of Progressive reformers Richard T. Ely and Nathan William MacChesney. Read more
Martin Luther King in Chicago: Somebody Nobody Sent
By Whet Moser
The man who is recognized every year with a national holiday is a secular saint, but it wasn't always so. In Chicago, King battled not only a wily mayor but an unfriendly press and decades of history... but not a history that was well known. Read more
Halloween in Old Chicago
By Whet Moser
Women in uniform, soot bags, wild pranks, ducked theologians, college "sprites," rough work by hoodlums, pea guns, and a path of ruin from Northwestern down the north shore. Read more
9/11 and Social Media
By Whet Moser
The dangers and advantages of "social media" in the wake—or the moment—of national disaster, from the Kennedy assassination to the attack on the World Trade Center. Read more
Can a Tornado Hit Downtown Chicago?
By Whet Moser
Apparently a lot of people believe that tornadoes can't strike big cities, or at least the downtown area. It's a little more than an old wives' tale, but a lot less than the truth. Read more
Raising Chicago: An Illustrated History
By Lilli Carré
In 1855, the city embarked on a far-fetched scheme to hoist itself out of the mud and gunk. On the 155th anniversary of the project's launch, we take a lively illustrated look back. Read more