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Our mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home.

    A Dream Deferred

    Painted portrait of a Black child and a mother figure standing in an doorway in the background

    Black Mobility and Housing

    Leon Savage, Untitled (detail), 1981, Oil on canvas. Courtesy of South Side Community Art Center.

    • National Public Housing Museum, 919 South Ada Street

    • FREE, but advance registration is required.
    • Register for the event

    Join us at the new permanent home of the National Public Housing Museum for an evening of art, exploration, and conversation about the history of housing injustice.

    Presented in conjunction with Court Theatre’s production of A Raisin in the Sun, the program explores the well-intentioned narrative that homeownership is the answer to combating systems of oppression that hinder Black mobility and generational wealth. It features a discussion between housing advocates, experts, and scholars from the University of Chicago, including Robin Bartram, Adrienne Brown, Philip Garboden, and writer and former resident of Trumbull Park Homes Sandra Jackson-Opoku. Moderated by National Public Housing Museum Executive Director Lisa Yun Lee.

    Plus—get an early look at select forthcoming exhibitions in the lead up to the Museum’s grand opening in 2025.

    Presented in partnership with Court Theatre and the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.

    Logos for Court Theatre and the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
    Black and white image of a 1940s Jane Addams Homes kitchen. A mother stands at the counter with her two sons.

    Historic Apartments

    Experience the texture and fabric of public housing throughout time by visiting three recreated historic apartments showcasing different families’ experiences at different moments in public housing history between 1938 and 1975. The intimate individual, family and community stories become the lens to understand large national public housing policies and their impact…

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    Two wooden bookends, each with a copper baby shoe inscribed with the name “Daniel,” sit on a wooden table.

    History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing

    “What is an object that tells a story about your life and experiences in public housing?” History Lessons: Everyday Objects from Public Housing is a national effort to collect objects from public housing residents in diverse communities across the USA, and work with residents in storytelling and writing workshops to write their own labels…

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    On a sideways piece of lined notebook paper with old fashioned handwritten text, a pencil drawing of three indigenous women wrapped in blankets look directly at the viewer. At the top of the page is a sliver of a Chicago street map.

    Still Here

    Still Here uses art, archives, and public dialogue to explore and connect histories of displacement on the land where the National Public Housing Museum is located. As an institution that addresses displacement of public housing residents, we also want to understand the forcible removal of Indigenous peoples that came before and grapple with how those experiences are interwoven…

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