Our oral histories are intimate conversations with people, primarily public housing residents, who have generously agreed to share some of their life stories with NPHM oral historians. By using this archive, you are committing to interacting with the interviews with humility, respect, and care for the narrators and the greater public housing community.
Not all NPHM oral histories are shared on this site. Similarly, some interviews only allow access and/or usage for people with certain lived experience. Please pay attention to the usage notes, as not all interviews that may be accessed have been released for usage. Interviews that allow usage may be used by anyone, but you must request permission for usage so that thenarrator continues to exercise primary power over how their stories are used.
How many words is a family picture really worth? More than a thousand? Are some photos actually best captured in haiku form?
Crack open your family photo album and bring a photo with you to the National Public Housing Museum for a poetry writing workshop led by creative writing instructor, poet, healer, and former Hilliard Homes resident, Toni Asante Lightfoot.
During this workshop, we’ll rediscover and reclaim snapshots of our past and use poetry to preserve our family memories and communal stories.
In addition to your polaroid (or any photo), please feel free to bring your favorite notebook and writing utensil.
FREE. Light bites and refreshments included. Space is limited. Please register in advance.
Community Conversations
This workshop is the final event in a series of Community Conversations sponsored by Illinois Humanities, focusing on the theme of “A Place in the World,” which reminds us that the places where we live and work shape and are shaped by ideas, people, resources, histories, and events around the world—often in unexpected and curious ways.
The National Public Housing Museum acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Upcoming events
There Is No Place for Us with Brian Goldstone and Eve L. Ewing
A conversation with author Brian Goldstone, whose deeply reported new book plunges readers into the lives of families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city.
The Black Tax with Andrew Kahrl and Tonika Lewis Johnson
A conversation with historian Andrew W. Kahrl and social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson about the history of predatory real estate practices and their devastating impact on Chicago’s most vulnerable communities.
Organized by MAS Context and the Chicago Architecture Biennial, this tour of the National Public Housing Museum is presented in conjunction with the CAB Studio exhibition Boliglaboratorium: A Danish Housing Lab.