Latest news with #GwendolynBrooks
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Today in Chicago History: ‘May Day' born after workers take to the streets to demand an eight-hour workday
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 1, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 90 degrees (1951) Low temperature: 30 degrees (1943) Precipitation: 2.35 inches (1873) Snowfall: 1.6 inches (1940) Why May Day is an international workers' holiday — and how it began in Chicago 1867: Illinois quickly passed an eight-hour workday law, which went into effect on this date. Workers thought the vague language of the law could be enforced, and employers thought otherwise. Thousands of workers marched through Chicago to support the eight-hour workday, but a failed general strike proved the employers right. Flashback: Chicago's place at the forefront of labor history 1886: Three days before the Haymarket Affair — in which a bomb was thrown during a Chicago labor rally that resulted in the death of eight police officers and at least four civilians — tens of thousands marched on Michigan Avenue in a campaign to reduce the customary 10- to 12-hour workday to eight hours. Though the U.S. honors workers in September — with Labor Day, which also has Chicago roots — the May 1886 events are commemorated in Chicago by a memorial on Desplaines Street, north of Randolph Street: A bronze statue of a wagon that served as a speakers' platform during the labor meeting. 1893: The World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. Beating out New York to host the spectacular world's fair was a miracle considering just 22 years earlier the city was in shambles following the Great Chicago Fire. The Ferris wheel, Cracker Jack and zippers were new-fangled things introduced to the more than 20 million attendees before the fair closed five months later. 1897: Louisa Luetgert, wife of Adolf Luetgert, owner of the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Co., disappeared. Luetgert was convicted of her slaying on Feb. 9, 1898, and dissolving her body in a vat of lye and sentenced to life in prison. Poet Gwendolyn Brooks, center, walks unrecognized by people in Chicago in 1961. Brooks lived on the South Side for most of her life. (Chicago Tribune archive) Gwendolyn Brooks writes at a table next to her books, circa 1961. (Robert MacKay/Chicago Tribune) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks at event at Columbia College on June 17, 1963. (Arthur Walker/Chicago Tribune) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks walks out of her home at 7428 S. Evans Ave. in the Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago in 1961. Brooks lived in the same house on the South Side from 1953 to 1994. (Robert Mackay/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks, center, and Ald. Leon Despres, are congratulated by Columbia College President Mirron Alexandroff, right, at the commencement exercise where Brooks and Despres were given honorary degrees on June 16, 1964, at the Prudential Building. (John Vogele/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks, of Chicago, was named by Gov. Otto Kerner, right, the new poet laureate of Illinois on Jan. 8, 1968. Brooks, a Pulitzer-Prize winning author and poet succeeds the late Carl Sandburg. (UPI Telephoto) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks, shown here on Aug. 5 1966, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950 and gave voice to the experience of African- Americans with her first poetry anthology, "A Street in Bronzeville," in 1954. (Arnold Tolchin/Chicago Tribune) Illinois' poet laureate Gwendolyn Brooks, center, shares her thoughts on verse with poetry award winners at the University of Chicago on June 11, 1981. (Walter Kale/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks reviews papers in a sun-lit area of the Library of Congress on Dec. 13, 1985, in Washington D.C. Brooks is the consultant in poetry to the library. (Paul F. Gero/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks on Dec. 13, 1985, at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. (Paul F. Gero/Chicago Tribune) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks talks with student writers after a poetry reading at Ancona School in Chicago on Feb. 10, 1992. (Ovie Carter/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks, Illinois poet laureate, celebrates her 70th birthday by blowing out the candles on a huge cake surrounded by young aspiring poets at Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago on June 7, 1987. (Walter Kale/Chicago Tribune) The home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks from 1953 to 1994 in the Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago, April 29, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) Nora Brooks Blakely, daughter of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, left, and sculptor Margot McMahon speak to a group of children about poetry and the new statue of Brooks at Gwendolyn Brooks Park on June 6, 2018, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) A mural on the wall of 316 E. 75th St. celebrates Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who lived in Grand Crossing from 1953 to 1994, April 29, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) A new statue of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, sculpted by Margot McMahon, stands at Gwendolyn Brooks Park on June 6, 2018, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) Show Caption1 of 17Gwendolyn Brooks, a 32-year-old housewife and part-time secretary, has won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for 'Annie Allen,' a ballad of Black Chicago life on May 1, 1950. Brooks is the first Black woman to capture one of the famed awards. (ACME photo)Expand 1950: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950, for 'Annie Allen,' a collection of works about a Black girl growing into womanhood while wrestling with racism, sexism, poverty and loss. A review in the Tribune praised its 'quick sense of the life of many people, the small intensities and the big disasters.' 1951: Minnie Minoso became the first Black player to play for the Chicago White Sox, homering in his first at-bat against Vic Raschi of the New York Yankees. 1960: Comiskey Park's exploding scoreboard debuted. Al Smith stepped up in the home half of the first inning of a doubleheader on May 1, 1960, and put the defending American League champs ahead with a two-run homer off Jim Bunning. Then the fun began. Smith triggered the public debut of owner Bill Veeck's biggest, baddest pinball machine — his $300,000 exploding scoreboard. The tradition of saluting White Sox home runs continues to this day. 1974: The Tribune became the first news organization to publish the entire 246,000-word transcript of the Watergate tapes, scooping even the government printing office by several hours. Vintage Chicago Tribune: The paper's role in the demise of Richard Nixon's presidency after Watergate President Richard Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974. 1997: WMAQ-Ch. 5 evening news anchor Carol Marin quit after management hired talk show host Jerry Springer to deliver news commentaries. She had been at WMAQ for 19 years. Co-anchor Ron Magers quit two weeks later. 2004: Farnsworth House, a steel-and-glass masterwork by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rhode, opened for tours after preservationists spent $7.5 million to buy and keep the icon of 20th century modernism in Illinois. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
Chicago Tribune
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: ‘May Day' born after workers take to the streets to demand an eight-hour workday
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 1, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 90 degrees (1951) Low temperature: 30 degrees (1943) Precipitation: 2.35 inches (1873) Snowfall: 1.6 inches (1940) Why May Day is an international workers' holiday — and how it began in Chicago 1867: Illinois quickly passed an eight-hour workday law, which went into effect on this date. Workers thought the vague language of the law could be enforced, and employers thought otherwise. Thousands of workers marched through Chicago to support the eight-hour workday, but a failed general strike proved the employers right. 1886: Three days before the Haymarket Affair — in which a bomb was thrown during a Chicago labor rally that resulted in the death of eight police officers and at least four civilians — tens of thousands marched on Michigan Avenue in a campaign to reduce the customary 10- to 12-hour workday to eight hours. Though the U.S. honors workers in September — with Labor Day, which also has Chicago roots — the May 1886 events are commemorated in Chicago by a memorial on Desplaines Street, north of Randolph Street: A bronze statue of a wagon that served as a speakers' platform during the labor meeting. 1893: The World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. Beating out New York to host the spectacular world's fair was a miracle considering just 22 years earlier the city was in shambles following the Great Chicago Fire. The Ferris wheel, Cracker Jack and zippers were new-fangled things introduced to the more than 20 million attendees before the fair closed five months later. 1897: Louisa Luetgert, wife of Adolf Luetgert, owner of the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Co., disappeared. Luetgert was convicted of her slaying on Feb. 9, 1898, and dissolving her body in a vat of lye and sentenced to life in prison. 1 of 17 Gwendolyn Brooks, a 32-year-old housewife and part-time secretary, has won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for 'Annie Allen,' a ballad of Black Chicago life on May 1, 1950. Brooks is the first Black woman to capture one of the famed awards. (ACME photo) 1950: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950, for 'Annie Allen,' a collection of works about a Black girl growing into womanhood while wrestling with racism, sexism, poverty and loss. A review in the Tribune praised its 'quick sense of the life of many people, the small intensities and the big disasters.' 1951: Minnie Minoso became the first Black player to play for the Chicago White Sox, homering in his first at-bat against Vic Raschi of the New York Yankees. 1960: Comiskey Park's exploding scoreboard debuted. Al Smith stepped up in the home half of the first inning of a doubleheader on May 1, 1960, and put the defending American League champs ahead with a two-run homer off Jim Bunning. Then the fun began. Smith triggered the public debut of owner Bill Veeck's biggest, baddest pinball machine — his $300,000 exploding scoreboard. The tradition of saluting White Sox home runs continues to this day. 1974: The Tribune became the first news organization to publish the entire 246,000-word transcript of the Watergate tapes, scooping even the government printing office by several hours. President Richard Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974. 1997: WMAQ-Ch. 5 evening news anchor Carol Marin quit after management hired talk show host Jerry Springer to deliver news commentaries. She had been at WMAQ for 19 years. Co-anchor Ron Magers quit two weeks later. 2004: Farnsworth House, a steel-and-glass masterwork by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rhode, opened for tours after preservationists spent $7.5 million to buy and keep the icon of 20th century modernism in Illinois. Want more vintage Chicago?
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The State of Illinois has a new Poet Laureate and fellow poets rejoice
As of Tuesday, the new Illinois Poet Laureate is named Mark Turcotte and this is a portion of one of his poems, the beginning stanza of 'Flies Buzzing.' As a child I danced to the heartful, savage rhythm of the Native, the American Indian, in the Turtle Mountains, in the Round Hall, in the greasy light of kerosene lamps. 'Mark Turcotte's work reflects the complex and beautiful landscape of both our state and the country as a whole through his unique perspective as a Native writer who has lived across the U.S. but has found a home here in Illinois,' said Governor JB Pritzker at a celebration. Turcotte was born in 1958 and raised on North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. After school in Michigan, he traveled the country, often living in migrant camps, until landing in Chicago in 1993. He almost immediately came to the attention of Gwendolyn Brooks, the esteemed, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and also an Illinois Poet Laureate. It was she who awarded Turcotte the first Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award and recognized him as a Significant Illinois Poet. Other awards came his way, including from the Lannan Foundation, the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. He is the author of many collections, including 'Exploding Chippewas,' 'Le Chant de la Route' and 'The Feathered Heart.' He is a senior lecturer at DePaul University in Chicago. He follows the term of Angela Jackson (2020-2025) and joins a small club that also includes Brooks (1968-2000), Howard B. Austin (1936-1962), Carl Sandburg (1962-1967) and Kevin Stein (2003-2017). This is an honorary position, 'tasked with promoting access to literary arts and raising awareness through statewide community engagement.' It comes with a yearly salary of $35,000 and $10,000 for expenses. Many in the poetry community applauded the choice. Turcotte sent his friend poet/artist Tony Fitzpatrick a text earlier on Tuesday telling him the news. 'I cannot think of a better choice for this honor,' Fitzpatrick told me. 'I met Mark in the early 90's when we both got to read poems in honor of Gwendolyn Brooks. We were thrilled. I read a poem about Satchel Paige and Mark read one from his then upcoming book, 'Exploding Chippewas.' 'The poem was nothing short of riveting. The hair on the back of my neck and my arms stood up. It was about his birth, his beginning, about being born into the culture of First Nation peoples. 'After Mark read his poem that day, Gwendolyn Brooks turned to me and said, 'And that is how you do this.'' rkogan@
Chicago Tribune
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
The State of Illinois has a new Poet Laureate and fellow poets rejoice
As of Tuesday, the new Illinois Poet Laureate is named Mark Turcotte and this is a portion of one of his poems, the beginning stanza of 'Flies Buzzing.' As a child I danced to the heartful, savage rhythm of the Native, the American Indian, in the Turtle Mountains, in the Round Hall, in the greasy light of kerosene lamps. 'Mark Turcotte's work reflects the complex and beautiful landscape of both our state and the country as a whole through his unique perspective as a Native writer who has lived across the U.S. but has found a home here in Illinois,' said Governor JB Pritzker at a celebration. Turcotte was born in 1958 and raised on North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. After school in Michigan, he traveled the country, often living in migrant camps, until landing in Chicago in 1993. He almost immediately came to the attention of Gwendolyn Brooks, the esteemed, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and also an Illinois Poet Laureate. It was she who awarded Turcotte the first Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award and recognized him as a Significant Illinois Poet. Other awards came his way, including from the Lannan Foundation, the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. He is the author of many collections, including 'Exploding Chippewas,' 'Le Chant de la Route' and 'The Feathered Heart.' He is a senior lecturer at DePaul University in Chicago. He follows the term of Angela Jackson (2020-2025) and joins a small club that also includes Brooks (1968-2000), Howard B. Austin (1936-1962), Carl Sandburg (1962-1967) and Kevin Stein (2003-2017). This is an honorary position, 'tasked with promoting access to literary arts and raising awareness through statewide community engagement.' It comes with a yearly salary of $35,000 and $10,000 for expenses. Many in the poetry community applauded the choice. Turcotte sent his friend poet/artist Tony Fitzpatrick a text earlier on Tuesday telling him the news. 'I cannot think of a better choice for this honor,' Fitzpatrick told me. 'I met Mark in the early 90's when we both got to read poems in honor of Gwendolyn Brooks. We were thrilled. I read a poem about Satchel Paige and Mark read one from his then upcoming book, 'Exploding Chippewas.' 'The poem was nothing short of riveting. The hair on the back of my neck and my arms stood up. It was about his birth, his beginning, about being born into the culture of First Nation peoples. 'After Mark read his poem that day, Gwendolyn Brooks turned to me and said, 'And that is how you do this.''
