An unflinchingly frank Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, AB’69, MAT’77, led the Harris School of Public Policy into its celebration of Black History Month, exploring life in Chicago — particularly on the South Side — and in an America at a crossroads during a Feb. 1 fireside chat.
The first Black woman elected Cook County Board President, Preckwinkle took the audience at the Keller Center event through the decades of her Chicago story, which began when she arrived to attend the University of Chicago. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota — where as a child she had to fight her way home from predominantly white schools — she taught high school history on the South Side for 10 years and spent nearly two decades as 4th Ward alderman, representing neighborhoods including Hyde Park and Kenwood.
With Harris Public Policy highlighting the power and pride in Chicago’s Black community this Black History Month, it turned to Preckwinkle to start February’s events — though she confessed to having mixed feelings about the observance of Black History Month in general.
Click here to read the full story.
This story was first published by UChicago News.
