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.
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.
This exhibition includes a large public wall mural by Andrea Carlson (Ojibwe) that is part of the city of Chicago’s Monuments and Memorials Project.
Curated by Dr. Lucy Mensah. Designed by Bodwe Group, whose mission is to grow the economy and legacy of the Pokagon Band of the Potowatomi.
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Still Here is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that aims to expand understanding of Chicago’s creative communities, past and present.
Lead support for the exhibition is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, with funding from the Mellon Foundation as part of the Chicago Monuments Project.
Additional support provided by Dedrea and Paul Gray, Sunny and Paul Fischer, Marisa Novara, Susan and John Russick, Mark Thiele, and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).
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…
Conceptualized by artist Marisa Morán Jahn and architect Rafi Segal, the mobile art installation HOOPcycle offers a reimagined sports experience that challenges norms and unites communities through play.
“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…