Watchman, Tell Us: John J. Bird and Black Politics in Post-Civil War Illinois by Wayne T. Pitard | 1
Avenues of Transformation: Illinois’s Path from Territory to State by James A. Edstrom | 2
Southern Illinois Fishing: A Comprehensive Guide for Anglers by Colby Simms | 3
20 Day Trips in and around the Shawnee National Forest by Larry P. and Donna J. Mahan | 4
Snake Road: A Field Guide to the Snakes of LaRue-Pine Hills by Joshua J. Vossler | 5
Pulling off the Sheets: The Second Ku Klux Klan in Deep Southern Illinois by Darrel Dexter and John A. Beadles | 6
Mennonites of Southern Illinois: A Photographic Journal by Jane Flynn | 7
Sudden Deaths in St. Louis: Coroner Bias in the Gilded Age by Sarah E. Lirley | 8
Regional History | 9
Olmsted’s Riverside: Stewardship Meets Innovation in a Landmark Village by Cathy Jean Maloney | 10
Puerto Ricans in Illinois by Maura I. Toro-Morn and Ivis García | 11
They Both Reached for the Gun: Beulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago by Charles H. Cosgrove | 12
Wear Some Armor in Your Hair: Urban Renewal and the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Lincoln Park by Brian Mullgardt | 13
Chicago History | 14
Black Americans in Mourning: Reactions to the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Leonne M. Hudson | 15
Lincoln / Lincoln’s Family & Friends | 16
World of Ulysses S. Grant | 17
Engaging the Civil War | 18
Concise Lincoln Library | 19
Criminology | 20
Crab Orchard Series in Poetry | 21
$26.95, 310 pages, 23 illustrations
Paper: 978-0-8093-3946-4
E-book: 978-0-8093-3947-1
WATCHMAN, TELL US
John J. Bird and Black Politics in Post-Civil War Illinois
Wayne T. Pitard
The most influential Black leader in 19th century southern Illinois
This key biography of John J. Bird unveils the forgotten story of a remarkable Black political figure in post-Civil War Illinois. Emerging as a leader in Cairo, the city with Illinois’s second-largest Black community, Bird played a pivotal role in advancing civil rights within the state, also becoming Illinois’s first Black elected judge and first Black trustee of the University of Illinois. Watchman, Tell Us deftly examines Bird’s lifetime of service and advocacy for a vulnerable community and the ways in which he successfully advocated for and protected voting rights, educational opportunity, and public access for the Black residents of southern Illinois.
Bird arrived in Cairo at age twenty during the Civil War to aid the 2,000 Black refugees from the South living there. By 1870, he had established the city’s substantial Black Republican wing, providing the Black community
“Bird’s story—by turns inspiring and tragic—makes it impossible to ignore that Reconstruction was a national, not simply Southern, process, and that its successes and its later overthrow profoundly reverberated throughout the entire nation.”
— Chandra Manning , author of Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War
Wayne T. Pitard is professor emeritus of the department of religion at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of two books, including Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State, and numerous academic articles.
with unprecedented political influence in this hostile, majority white, Democratic town. Under Bird’s leadership, the Black Republicans pressed for policies that improved the well-being of the African American population, including the early establishment of a Black public school, the rise of an integrated judicial system, and the ability to access public and private businesses. Bird became influential across Illinois as a judge and university trustee, a leader in the Black convention movement, and a significant newspaper editor in Cairo and Springfield. When Bird died in 1912, the nation he loved had once again betrayed its Black citizens, and it appeared that most of the achievements he had fought for had collapsed. But the work of Bird and the other civil rights workers of the nineteenth century created the foundation upon which the movements of the twentieth century could stand.
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Winner of the 2024 Friends of Morris Library Delta Award!
$26.50, 274 pages, 17 illustrations
Paper: 978-0-8093-3876-4
E-book: 978-0-8093-3877-1
AVENUES OF TRANSFORMATION
Illinois’s Path from Territory to State James A. Edstrom
A territory split by slavery, a state forged for union
Avenues of Transformation traces the surprising path, marked by shame, ambition, and will that led to Illinois’s admission to the Union in 1818. Historian James A. Edstrom guides the reader through this story by associating each stage of the narrative—the original statehood campaign, the passage of Illinois’s statehood-enabling act by Congress, and Illinois’s first constitutional convention—with the primary leaders in each of those episodes. The lives of these men—Daniel Pope Cook, Nathaniel Pope, and Elias Kent Kane—reflect the momentous tangle of politics, slavery, and geography. This history maps the drive for statehood in the conflict between nation and state, in the perpetuation of slavery, and in the sweep of water and commerce. It underscores the ways in which the Prairie State is
uniquely intertwined—economically, socially, and politically—with every region of the Union: North, South, East, and West—and captures the compelling moment when Illinois statehood stood ready to more perfectly unify the nation. This volume is the first full-length book in over a century to describe and analyze Illinois’s admission to the Union. It marks the first time that a historian has analyzed in detail the roll-call votes of the first state constitutional convention, seated evenly by pro- and antislavery delegates. Edstrom’s wit and prose weave a lively narrative of political ambition and human failure. Patiently crafted, Avenues of Transformation will be the first source for readers to turn to for gaining a better understanding of Illinois statehood.
James A. Edstrom is a librarian, researcher, and author whose scholarship on Illinois history has appeared in journals such as Illinois Heritage and Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. He is a professor of library services and history at William Rainey Harper College.
“James A. Edstrom has written what will be the definitive history of the politics of state making in Illinois. This excellent book reminds us that the Land of Lincoln began as the state of transplanted and local slave owners and land speculators on the make. The story helps us all better understand the social and political forces that surrounded the Missouri crisis and the relentless movement of slavery west, even in the old Northwest.”
— Paul Finkelman, author of Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court and Chancellor of Gratz College
$26.95, 228 pages, 41 illustrations
Paper: 978-0-8093-3962-4
E-book: 978-0-8093-3963-1
Shawnee Books
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS FISHING
A Comprehensive Guide for Anglers Colby Simms
The ultimate resource for sport fishing in Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois’s many waterways teem with an incredible variety of fish species, and award-winning fisherman and journalist Colby Simms knows exactly where and how to catch them all.
Within these pages, Simms shares the secrets he’s gleaned from years of hardwon experience: colossal catfish dominate the Mississippi River; monstrous muskies rule over Kinkaid Lake. Rend gives up record crappie and bowfin, while Crab Orchard produces excellent largemouth bass fishing and Cedar offers huge striped bass. Whether you’re powerboating a large lake or paddling an out-of-the-way oxbow, the region presents countless opportunities for different styles of fishing. Wondering which bait and tackle will produce the best results, or how seasonal weather affects fish migration patterns? Simms has already conferred with fellow fishing pros as well as biologists, outdoor sports
media figures, and other experts to bring you the most current, site-specific information possible. From fishing fundamentals to the most advanced, cutting-edge techniques, he presents a battle plan for attacking the waters, big and small, of the lower Prairie State, which will benefit all anglers— from beginners to seasoned tournament competitors.
Nestled between the critical information and detailed instructions, you’ll find stories from Simms and additional professional anglers, state fisheries staff, recreational fishers, and others. You’ll find encouragement and motivation to put away life’s modern distractions and get back to nature. Southern Illinois Fishing brims with enthusiasm, humor, and heart, and is sure to educate and inspire readers to lose themselves in the ancient tradition and modern sport of fishing.
Colby Simms is a multiple muskie, bass and billfish tournament champ, multiple circuit championship title holder, and winner of the first Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail Qualifier and IMTT State Championship, who’s been featured in the Chicago Sun Times, Field & Stream, Illinois Game & Fish, and USA Today. He’s a record-holding guide, public speaker, award-winning national network TV & radio personality, and a multiple award-winning international writer with work appearing over 3,000 times in over 50 publications. He’s owner of Colby Simms Outdoors LLC, operating one of the largest charter services in the Lower Midwest, and his signature tackle products have been carried by dealers across multiple countries, including the world ’s largest outdoor sports retailer, Bass Pro Shops.
“Colby
Simms shines as a masterful storyteller whose journeys across diverse terrains have honed his ability to craft narratives that are both riveting and enlightening.”
in and around the Shawnee National Forest Larry P. and Donna J. Mahan
One of the unique and most scenic treasures in the Midwest, the Shawnee National Forest spans more than 279,000 acres deep in southern Illinois. The natural beauty, stunning vistas, and diverse flora and fauna of this picturesque region invite exploration by all who love nature. This easy-to-use guidebook highlights 20 exciting day or weekend trips within and near the Shawnee National Forest, making it easy to take advantage of the forest’s myriad opportunities for outdoor recreational activity. Intended for those without extensive hiking or camping experience, the guide provides all of the information necessary to safely and proficiently explore all the forest has to offer. Entertaining narratives describe
each journey in vivid detail, offering advice on needed supplies, pointing out shortcuts, and spotlighting not-to-miss views. Entries also include thorough directions, GPS coordinates, trail difficulty ratings, landform descriptions, exact distances between points, and a list of available facilities at each location.
From biking and bird watching to hiking, horseback riding, and rock climbing, the Shawnee National Forest is home to an abundance of possibilities for outdoor fun. With this practical guide in hand, adventure seekers and nature lovers alike can make the most of southern Illinois’s own natural treasure.
Larry P. Mahan, recently retired from the teaching profession with 50 years of service, is the author of In Search of Large Trees. His wife, Donna, a native of southern Illinois, has also retired from teachi ng in the Springfield area.
“From waterfalls to caves to wonderful vistas overlooking the Ohio River, and from historic sites to calm lakes to interesting architecture, the Mahans take you everywhere you need to go to gain an intense appreciation of southern Illinois as a vacation spot. An enthusiastic guide to an overlooked place..”
— Booklist
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$19.50, 168 pages, 355 illustrations
Paper: 978-0-8093-3805-4
E-book: 978-0-8093-3806-1
Shawnee Books
SNAKE ROAD
A Field Guide to the Snakes of LaRue-Pine Hills
Joshua J. Vossler
Visiting the mecca of snake watching
Twice a year, spring and fall, numerous species of reptiles and amphibians migrate between the LaRue–Pine Hills’ towering limestone bluffs and the Big Muddy River’s swampy floodplain in southern Illinois. Snakes, especially great numbers of Cottonmouths, give the road that separates these distinct environments its name. Although it is one of the best places in the world to observe snakes throughout the year, spring and fall are the optimal times to see a greater number and variety. Among the many activities that snakes can be observed doing are sunning themselves on rocks, lying in grasses, sheltering under or near fallen tree limbs, or crossing the road. In this engaging guide, author Joshua J. Vossler details what to expect and how to make the most of a visit to what is known around the world as Snake Road.
Vossler catalogs twenty-three native snake species by both common and scientific names,
lists identifying features, and estimates the probability of spotting them. Throughout this book, stunning color photographs of each species’ distinctive physical characteristics enable identification by sight only, an important feature, since Illinois law prohibits the handling, harming, or removal of reptiles and other wildlife on and around the road. Since snakes are visually variable—individual snakes of the same species can differ tremendously in size, color, and pattern—photographs of as many variations as possible are included. To aid in identification, eleven sets of photographs contrast the features of similar species and point out how and why these snakes may be easily confused. Visitors can keep track of the snakes they have identified by using the checklist in the back of the book. A list of recommended reading provides sources of additional information about snakes in southern Illinois and beyond.
Joshua J. Vossler, an associate professor and academic librarian at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is the coauthor of Humor and Information Literacy: Practical Techniques for Library Instruction. He specializes in making instructional videos about research skills. He is a lifelong snake watcher and herpetological enthusiast.
“This study of the history of coroners’ inquests in St. Louis during the late nineteenth century makes a valuable contribution to death studies. Providing a look into the lives of ordinary people and the factors that shaped investigations, Sudden Deaths illuminates the social meanings and implications of class and urban economy in the Gilded Age.”
— Keona K. Ervin, author of Gateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis
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$22.95, 196 pages, 17 illustrations
Paper: 978-0-8093-3942-6
E-book: 978-0-8093-3943-3
Saluki Publishing
PULLING OFF THE SHEETS
The Second Ku Klux Klan in Deep Southern Illinois Darrel Dexter & John A. Beadles
Unmasking old-time racism in southern Illinois
Pulling off the Sheets tells the previously obscured history of the Second Ku Klux Klan which formed in deep southern Illinois in the early 1920s. Through meticulous research into both public and private records, Darrel Dexter and John A. Beadles recount the Klan’s mythical origins, reemergence, and swift disappearance. This important historical account sets out to expose the lasting impact of the Klan on race relations today.
The ideation of the Klan as a savior of the white race and protector of white womanhood was perpetuated by books, plays, and local news sources of the time. The very real but misplaced fear of Black violence on whites created an environment in which the Second Klan thrived, and recruitment ran rampant in communities such as the Protestant church.
Events like the murder of Daisy Wilson intensified the climate of racial segregation and white supremacy in the region, and despite attempts at bringing justice to the perpetrators, most failed. The Second Klan’s presence may have been short-lived, but the violence and fear it inflicted continues to linger.
This disturbing historical account challenges readers to “pull back the sheet” and confront the darkest corners of their past. Dexter and Beadles emphasize the importance of acknowledging the damage that white supremacy and racism cause and how we can move toward healing.
Darrel Dexter is the author of several books, including Bondage in Egypt: Slavery in Southern Illinois and A Trot D own to Egypt: The Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Jonesboro, Illinois.
John A. Beadles is the author of A History of Southernmost Illinois and Stained with Blood and Tears: Lynchings, Murder, and Mob Violence in Cairo, Illinois 1909-1910 (SIU Press).
“This well-documented history should be read by anyone who wants to understand and work to eliminate racial divides in southern Illinois”
— Sheila Simon, former lieutenant governor of Illinois
“Flynn’s exquisite photos capture the simplicity and humility of Mennonite faith and life.”
— Donald B. Kraybill, author of Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites
Offering a glimpse into a world largely misunderstood by mainstream society, this book documents the period of eight years that Jane Flynn practiced with Mennonites in two different Southern Illinois communities: Stonefort, and Mount Pleasant in Anna. Despite her status as an outsider, Flynn was welcomed and allowed to photograph the Mennonites in their homes, making applesauce, farming, and beekeeping. Escaping persecution from the Catholic Church in Europe, the Mennonites arrived in America in 1683, settling in what is now Pennsylvania. Today, they live in almost all 50 states, Canada, and South America. To reflect the Mennonites’ manual-labor lifestyle, Flynn processed her black-and-white photographs by hand and handprinted them in a dark room. The imagery explores the Mennonites’
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Jane Flynn received her MFA in media arts with a focus on photography from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her work appears frequently in professional exhibitions in the United States and internationally, such as The Montgomery Photo Festival presented by the Society of Arts & Crafts, the Women’s Caucus Exhibition of the World Record FotoFocus Biennial, and the 29th Cedarhurst Biennial. Recipient of the 2022 Merit Award in Black & White from the 2022 Montgomery Photo Festival, Flynn continues practicing photography and specializes in capturing her su bjects in their natural, unedited form.
labors, leisure, and faith by documenting their homes, places of work and worship, and the Illinois Ozark landscape they inhabit.
Similar to the Amish and the Quakers, Mennonites consider the Bible the supreme authority and insist on a separation between church and state. To enact that separation, they distinguish themselves from society in speech, dress, business, recreation, education, pacifism, and by refusing to participate in politics. They believe in nonconformity to the world, discipleship, and being born again through adult baptism. With Mennonites of Southern Illinois , Jane Flynn provides representation for these closed communities and illustrates the Mennonites’ struggle to find and maintain balance between rustic and modern life while remaining faithful to their religious beliefs.
$24.95, 190 pages, 9 illustrations
Cloth: 978-0-8093-3932-7
E-book: 978-0-8093-3933-4
SUDDEN DEATHS IN ST. LOUIS
Coroner Bias in the Gilded Age Sarah E. Lirley
A social history of death investigations in the urban Midwest
The scene of myriad grisly deaths, late nineteenth-century St. Louis was a hotbed for homicide, suicide, alcoholism, abortion, and workplace accidents. The role of the city’s Gilded Age coroners has not been fully examined, contextualized, or interrogated until now. Sarah E. Lirley investigates the process in which these outcomes were determined, finding coroners’ rulings were not uniform, but rather varied by who was conducting the inquest. These fascinating case studies explore the lives of the deceased, as well as their families, communities, press coverage of the events, and the coroners themselves.
Sudden Deaths in St. Louis is a study of 120 coroners’ inquests conducted between 1875 and 1885. Each chapter analyzes the typical versus the atypical in verdicts of death. At the time, inaccurate findings and cursory
investigations fueled criticisms of coroner’s offices for employing poorly trained laymen. The coroners featured in this book had the power to shape public perception of the deceased, and they often relied on preexisting reputations to determine cause of death. For instance, women who worked as prostitutes were likely to be ruled as suicides, whether or not that was actually the case, and women who were respected members of their communities, particularly mothers, frequently received rulings of suicide caused by insanity. Verdicts also depended in part on availability of witnesses, including family members, to determine whether another person could be held liable for the death. Lirley’s book highlights the stories of ordinary men and women whose lives were tragically cut short, and the injustice they received even after death.
Sarah E. Lirley is a historian who specializes in the history of women and gender, nineteenth century history, and the history of death and death investigations. Lirley is an assistant professor of history at Columbia College (Columbia, Missouri). She has published articles in the Missouri Historical Review and has written peer-reviewed blog articles, encyclopedia entries, and book reviews in a variety of historical journals. She has presented her resear ch at more than twenty professional conferences.
“This study of the history of coroners’ inquests in St. Louis during the late nineteenth century makes a valuable contribution to death studies. Providing a look into the lives of ordinary people and the factors that shaped investigations, Sudden Deaths illuminates the social meanings and implications of class and urban economy in the Gilded Age.”
— Keona K. Ervin, author of Gateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis
Cathy Jean Maloney is a landscape historian and author of five books on garden and environmental history, including World’s Fair Gardens: Shaping American Landscapes . For more than twenty years, Maloney served as senior editor of Chicagoland Gardening magazine. She also chaired the Landscape Advisory Commission in historic Riverside, Illinois, and spearheaded its certification as an arboretum. Maloney has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, and teaches at the Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Botanic Garden while writing for national and regional publications.
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OLMSTED’S RIVERSIDE
Stewardship Meets Innovation in a Landmark Village
Cathy Jean Maloney
The challenge to preserve Chicagoland’s unique haven
Just outside the bustling metropolis of Chicago lies the unlikely green oasis of Riverside, Illinois, a small village that has continued to directly influence American landscapes and suburbs since the 1870s. Once farmland, the location provided a blank canvas for preeminent designers Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s manifestation of a truly democratic society. Olmsted’s Riverside details the village’s historical significance, harmony with nature, and its nearly 150-year impact on American suburbs today.
Cathy Jean Maloney explores how Riverside’s layout and design presaged today’s urban planning goals of walkability, green space, public transportation access, sustainability, and resiliency. Houses in Riverside are set back from the road, sidewalks meander along gently curving roads, and public green spaces abound. Maloney shows how Riverside’s
leaders and residents struggled with stewardship of Olmsted’s ideals by balancing competing interests in suburban development and Chicago sprawl from the 1870s to the 2020s. She details in chronological chapters how the village adapted to tragedies such as the Great Fire of 1871 and the Panic of 1873, as well as advancements in transportation, local civic life, urban policy, and environmental thought, all while staying true to the framework inherited from Olmsted and Vaux.
Olmsted’s Riverside provides engaging examples of how citizen involvement can protect a community’s ideals. This richly illustrated volume combines landscape architecture, regional history, and urban design to show how audacious civic planning and thoughtful conservation can provide a model for future American suburbs.
“This is a book that needed to be written. Cathy Jean Maloney not only provides a complete, expert, and detailed history of the design and development of one of the country’s first suburbs, but also provides ample evidence that Riverside was and is an exemplar of the American suburban ideal.”
— Malcolm Cairns, author
of The Landscape Architecture Heritage of Illinois
“An informative, well-documented, and clearly written chronicle of the displacement and resettlement of Puerto Ricans in Illinois, focusing on their community organization and mobilization, social and educational struggles, and cultural and political resilience. Drawing on census data, personal interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork, Puerto Ricans in Illinois makes a noteworthy contribution to Puerto Rican and Latino studies as well as to immigrant and ethnic studies more broadly.”
— Jorge Duany, author of Puerto Rico: What Everyone Needs to Know
PUERTO RICANS IN ILLINOIS
Maura I. Toro-Morn and Ivis García
A community making a home in Illinois
As the first book to document the experiences of Puerto Ricans in the state of Illinois, this inviting book maps the pedacito de patria (little piece of home) that many Puerto Ricans have carved from the bitter hardships faced in Illinois. Authors Maura Toro-Morn and Ivis García illustrate the multiple paradoxes underlying the experience of Puerto Ricans in Illinois: an island people in a heartland state, native-born citizens living an immigrant’s experience, climate refugees in the Midwest. They live a vaivén (coming and going). This volume partially exposes these paradoxes through a narrative of common survival and achievement. Along the proud Paseo Boricua (Puerto Rican Promenade) in Chicago and in smaller cities around the state, Puerto Ricans find and create the means to keep their national identity while contributing to the health and wealth of their adopted state.
From the voices of the people, the authors offer readers an opportunity to learn about the history of Puerto Rico, the migration of Puerto Ricans to Illinois, and the cultural, economic, and political contributions of the Puerto Rican women, men, and families that call Illinois home. In Chicago and across the heartland, Puerto Ricans have negotiated the gap between home and country, mobilized state-wide against the federal government’s virtual abandonment in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. A compelling weave of scholarship summary, archival research, and extensive sociological study including interviews conducted across the state, the book documents just how much many fail to know about a growing and transforming community in Illinois. The stories of Puerto Ricans are here.
Maura I. Toro-Morn is a professor of sociology at Illinois State University and director of the Latin American and Latino Studies program.
Ivis García, associate professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at Texas A&M University, was the cochair of the Puerto Rican Agenda of Chicago and a Chicago-based oral historian with Centro at City University of New Yor k.
Beulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago
Charles H. Cosgrove
Examining the case that inspired a pop culture phenomenon
In 1924 Beulah Annan was arrested for killing her lover, Harry Kalsted. Six weeks later, a jury acquitted her of murder. Inspired by the sordid event, trial, and acquittal, reporter Maurine Watkins wrote the play Chicago, a Broadway hit that was adapted several times. Through a fresh retelling of Annan’s story and Watkins’s play, Charles H. Cosgrove provides the first critical examination of the criminal case and an exploration of the era’s social assumptions that made the play’s message so plausible in its time. Cosgrove expertly combines inquest and police records, and interviews with Annan’s relatives, to analyze the participants, the trial, and the play. Although no one will ever know what really happened in that Kenwood apartment, Cosgrove’s interrogation shows how sensationalized Watkins’s writing was. Her reporting on the Annan case perpetuated falsehoods about Annan’s so-called “confession,” and her play inaccurately portrayed Chicago’s criminal justice system. Cosgrove challenges the portrait of Annan as a killer who got away with murder and of Watkins as a savvy reporter and precocious playwright. He exposes the weaknesses of the case against Annan and vindicates the jury that tried her.
Charles H. Cosgrove is emeritus professor of early Christian literature at Garrett Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Fortune and Faith in Old Chicago: A Dual Biography of Mayor Augustus Garrett and Seminary Founder Eliza Clark Garrett, and Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity. A lifelong native of the Chicago area, he is an aficionado of the city’s history and makes occasional appearances in the area’s music venues as a jazz trombonist.
“Cosgrove shines a dazzling spotlight on the historical distortions behind the musical Chicago and its source material. With authority and clarity, he argues there never was a Jazz Age Chicago where beautiful women routinely got away with murder. On trial here: the pushback against American women’s social progress.”
— Marcia Biederman, author of The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill: Abortion, Death, and Concealment in Victorian New England
Urban Renewal and the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Lincoln Park
Brian Mullgardt
Police brutality, gentrification, and grassroots activism in 1960s Chicago
In August of 1968, approximately 7,000 people protested the Vietnam War against the backdrop of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. This highly televised event began peacefully but quickly turned into what was later termed a “police riot.” Brian Mullgardt’s investigation of this event and the preceding tensions shines a light on the ministers, Yippies, and community members who showed up and stood together against the brutality of the police. Charting a complex social history, Wear Some Armor in Your Hair brings together Chicago history, the 1960s, and urbanization, focusing not on the national leaders, but on the grassroots activists of the time.
Beginning in 1955, two competing visions of urban renewal existed, and the groups that propounded each clashed publicly, but peacefully. One group, linked to city hall, envisioned a future Lincoln Park that paid lip service to
diversity but actually included very little. The other group, the North Side Cooperative Ministry, offered a different vision of Lincoln Park that was much more diverse in terms of class and race. When the Yippies announced anti-war protests for the summer of ‘68, the North Side Cooperative Ministry played an instrumental role. Ultimately, the violence of that week altered community relations and the forces of gentrification won out.
Mullgardt’s focus on the activists and community members of Lincoln Park, a neighborhood at the nexus of national trends, broadens the scope of understanding around a pivotal and monumental chapter of our history. The story of Lincoln Park, Chicago, is in many ways the story of 1960s activism writ small, and in other ways challenges us to view national trends differently.
Brian Mullgardt is a professor of history at Millikin University who specializes in US history in the Cold War era, with an emphasis on social activism during the “Long Sixties” (1955-1975). He has served as the vice president of the Macon County Historical Society and Museum and on the board of directors for the Illinois State Historical Society. He has published in several journals, including the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society and the Journal of Illinois History.
“Views of the 1960s counterculture are too often simplified and centered on the coasts, with images of dancing flower children and rebellious youth. Mullgardt offers a valuable corrective, focusing not on the leaders of the protests, but on local Chicago activists, including clergy and people of color. The Yippies who came to Chicago found that there was already a movement for equality and justice happening here—and it continued after the DNC circus left town.”
— Mary Wisniewski, author of Algren: A Life
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CHICAGO HISTORY
$24.95, 208 pages, 16 illustrations
Paper: 978-0-8093-3954-9
Cloth: 978-0-8093-3972-3
E-book: 978-0-8093-3955-6
BLACK AMERICANS IN MOURNING
Reactions to the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Leonne M. Hudson
Centering Black grief in the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth carried out the first presidential assassination in United States history. The euphoria resulting from General Lee’s surrender evaporated at the news of Abraham Lincoln’s murder. The nation—excepting many white Southerners— found itself consumed with grief, and no group mourned Lincoln more deeply than people of color. African Americans did not speak with a monolithic voice on social or political issues, but even Lincoln’s Black contemporaries who may not have approved of him while he was alive mourned his death, understanding its implications for their future.
Beginning with the assassination itself and chronicling Lincoln’s three-week-long national funeral, historian Leonne M. Hudson captures the profound sadness of Black Americans as they
mourned the crafter of the Emancipation Proclamation and the man they thought of as their earthly Moses, father, friend, and benefactor. Hudson continues the narrative by detailing the postwar efforts of African Americans to gain citizenship and voting rights.
Black Americans in Mourning includes the tributes of prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, and Elizabeth Keckley, who raised their voices to honor Lincoln, as well as formal expressions of grief by institutions and organizations such as the United States Colored Troops. In a triumph of research, Hudson also features the voices of lesser-known Black people who mourned Lincoln across the country, showing that the outpouring of individual and collective grief helped set the stage for his enduring glorification.
Leonne M. Hudson, associate professor emeritus at Kent State University, is the author of The Odyssey of a Southerner: The Life and Times of Gustavus Woodson Smith, the editor of Company “A” Corps of Engineers, U.S.A., 1846-1848, in the Mexican War, and the coeditor of Democracy and the American Civil War: Race and African Americans in the Nineteenth Century.
“Leonne M. Hudson has accomplished a tour de force of research and analysis in the account of the response of Black Americans to Lincoln’s assassination. He describes how many viewed the slain martyr as a Moses who led them from bondage to the promised land of freedom but was struck down at the end of the journey, and others likened him to Christ who was crucified on Good Friday 1865 to save them from the sin of slavery. A fine addition to Lincoln scholarship.”
— James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
