Chicago is, and always has been, a Native place.
The Indigenous Chicago project is a multifaceted collaboration between the Newberry Library, the Chicago American Indian Community, and tribal nations who have ancestral ties to Chicago. The project includes a temporary exhibition at the Newberry Library, digital resources and interactive maps that reposition Chicago as Indigenous land and space, curriculum for high school social studies students, new oral histories of community members, and a series of public programs.
Upcoming Programs
Mapping Indigenous Chicago
(D’Arcy McNickle Distinguished Lecture Series)
October 17, 6-7:30pm
Online – Zoom
Take a deep dive into the process of creating the many multifaceted and interactive maps for the Newberry’s Indigenous Chicago project, with scholars who helped to conceptualize and build them.
Indigenous People and the Chicago Portage
November 21, 6-7pm
Hybrid – Newberry Library, Ruggles Hall and Zoom
Join us as John William Nelson, Eric Hemenway, and Raphael Wahwussuck discuss the critical importance of Chicago’s regional waterways to Indigenous history.