National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) Podcasts

Legally Stolen is a 3-episode podcast produced by the National Public Housing Museum and Artist as Instigator Tonika Lewis Johnson as part of her project, Inequity for Sale, a virtual and physical exploration of homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in the 50s and 60s.

Episode Two takes listeners on a journey through present-day Greater Englewood, exploring how legalized theft in the past directly contributed to present inequity in Black communities. Featured guests include Alderman Stephanie Coleman of the 16th Ward, Englewood residents Lolita Hughes and Patricia Porter, author of Family Properties Beryl Satter, and author of The Color of Law Richard Rothstein
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This episode, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," celebrates a resident from the ABLA (a group of public housing projects consisting of the Jane Addams Homes, Robert Brooks Homes, Loomis Courts, and Grace Abbott Homes) community, the late Mr. Wilbur Farley. If that name sounds familiar, perhaps it is because he has appeared many times in different ABLA oral histories we have gathered. Known as “Mr. Fix-It” for his ingenuity and helping neighbors with small repairs, Mr. Farley was such a hugely influential and important member of the community that “Mr. Farley Day Back to School Celebration and Party” (as it was originally called) was created in 1984 by the ABLA community. The oral history narrators featured in this episode are Al Buford, who lived in the Jane Addams Homes from 1955 until 1990, Marquita Gandy, who lived in ABLA from 1973 to 2009, Godfrey Bey, who lived in the Jane Addams Homes from 1956 to 1983, and Byron Dickens, our next narrator lived in the Jane Addams Homes from 1966 to 2001.

Read the transcript here.

CORRECTION: The narration of this episode states that Marquita Gandy lived in the Jane Addams Homes from 1973 to 2009. The episode notes have been edited to reflect the correction, that Marquita Gandy lived in the greater ABLA Homes complexes from 1973 to 2009. All but one of the buildings of the Jane Addams Homes were demolished between 2002-2008; the last remaining building is being preserved for the National Public Housing Museum's permanent site thanks to efforts by ABLA resident activists. (Source: Society of Architectural Historians, https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IL-01-031-0037)

Cited Source: https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/old-man-of-the-projects/

Legally Stolen is a 3-episode podcast produced by the National Public Housing Museum exploring Inequity for Sale, a virtual and physical exploration of homes sold on Land Sale Contracts, by social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson.

Episode One is a deep dive into the history and research that sparked Tonika’s idea to create Inequity for Sale. Featured guests include co-author of the Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago report Amber Hendley, author of Family Properties Beryl Satter, author of The Color of Law Richard Rothstein, and housing activist Athena Williams.

Read the transcript here.

When considering what “love” is, many varieties come to mind. Romantic love and platonic love dominate our TV shows, movies, and music, but these are only two pieces of the picture. What about love of a place, love of a people, or love of a purpose and principles? This episode, “The Act of Loving,” shares stories of all sorts of love in public housing, expanding our definition of what love means.
The oral history narrators for this episode include, JL Gross, who has lived in Chicago's Lathrop Homes from 1987 to the present day, Reverend Marshall Hatch, who lived in Chicago's Jane Addams Homes from 1960 to 1974, Milton Reed who lived in Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes from 1961 to 2002, Former Representative Bobby Rush who lived in Chicago's Hillard Homes from 1963 until the mid 1960s, Daphany Rose Sanchez, who has lived in New York City's Cooper Park Houses from 1984 to the present day, Larry Turner, who lived in Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes, Stateway Gardens, and Cabrini-Green in 1977 and then 1980 to 2000 and Atlanta Dream Head Coach, Tanisha Wright, who lived in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania's Mon View Heights from 1983 to 1998.
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In this episode of Out of the Archives, "Hidden History America," storytellers analyze the state of public housing in New York City, moving out of public housing into Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, and the tireless efforts of parents working nights to give their children a better life.
A special thanks to the storytellers from this episode, including Roger Prosise of the Cabrini-Green Homes, Robert Scott of CHA Senior North, Daphany Rose Sanchez of Cooper Park, Charlene Purnell from the Lathrop Homes, Blanche Winston of the ABLA Homes, and Daniel Nicholson of Stateway Gardens. We'd also like to thank the members of the Museum's Oral History Corps and other oral historians who recorded these stories, including Shirley Alfaro, Elena Bulgarella, Shakira Johnson, and Maria Moon.
The stories span from 1954 to the present day.

Read the transcript here.