September 1, 2026

“Make Something from Within Yourself”

featuring Katherine Davis

Out of the Archives, Episode 29

Rooted in the vibrant music and dance scene of 1950s–1960s Cabrini Green Homes, blues/jazz singer Katherine Davis dreamed of singing in all the buildings in downtown Chicago that she could see from her window.

In Episode 29 of Out of the Archives, listen to her journey of becoming a professional musician.

Note: this interview was conducted on Zoom in 2021, and has some jumpiness in audio quality.

Episode transcript

Listen to Katherine’s full length oral history interview

Episode notes, sources, and resources

Learn more about Katherine Davis at www.bluessingerkatherinedavis.com and find her music on Spotify.

Historical sources and further reading:

“Introduction to Little Hell” on Chicagology
“Chicago Time Machine: Cabrini Green” from WTTW
“Chicago: Near North Side” from Segregation by Design

Music in the episode:

“A Better Life” by Katherine Davis, courtesy of the artist, published 2022
“Can I Hold the Mic (interlude)” by Solange, published 2019 (quoted)
Additional music by Robert Van Vranken.
Hear more music from the entire season in our season playlist.

About the series

Out of the Archives is the National Public Housing Museum’s oral history-based podcast, created from interviews with public housing residents across the United States.

About the season

Season 5
Black Creative Innovation in Chicago Public Housing

Across season 5 of Out of the Archives, listen to abridged interviews with public housing residents whose innovations helped put Chicago and Black creative practices on the map.

Learn more

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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