Chicago Black Social Culture Map
Chicago’s West Side: Sounds & Spaces / Westside Edition

Co-sponsored by the Chicago Black Social Culture Map, Honey Pot Performance, the Modern Dance Music Archiving Foundation, the Westside Justice Center, and the Smithsonian/National Museum of African American History & Culture.

The September 7th installment focuses on the development of nightlife and social spaces on Chicago’s Westside. Panels will explore the impact of Westside Blues; the importance of Westside record stores and record labels such as George’s Music Room, Barney’s Music, and Dance Mania Records; and the Westside’s contributions to Chicago House, Footwork, and Juke music and dance cultures.

The Chicago Black Social Culture Map is an online public humanities project documenting Black social culture from the Great Migration through the early 21st century with a focus on the emergence of house music and dance in the 1980s. The map features profiles for over 350 different venues, including basic information, first-person stories, and supplemental media, all collected through collaborative community research.

The CBSCM exists to preserve Chicago’s black social cultural lineage – past, present, and future – through an experience that is both fun and informative. In Fall 2018, we launched this interactive digital initiative with a community archiving day including panel discussions, archiving stations, and hands on demonstrations of the online map. In 2019, we are growing that experience into a series of roving map and archiving days focused on the social scene across the city’s South, West, and North sides. Each day features public spaces, personalities, and cultural history connected to specific city geographies.

Bring your photos, flyers, fashion, and stories to be archived on site and added to the digital map! Sign up here to let us know what archiving stations you’d like to participate in.

PANEL SESSIONS
The Impact of West Side Blues (12:30 – 1:15PM)
Moderator – Ayana Contreras
Panelist – Larry Taylor
Panelist – Avery R. Young
Panelist – TBA

Westside Record Stores & Music Production (1:20 – 2:35PM)
Moderator – First Lady
Panelist – George Daniels
Panelist – TBA

Discussion in conjunction with the NMAAHC (2:40 – 3:40PM)
Dwandalyn Reece, Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Development of House and Dance Music Spaces on Chicago’s West Side (3:45PM – 5:00PM)
Moderator – Jo de Presser
Panelist – Rick Lenoir
Panelist – VIck Lavender
Panelist – Kevin McSwain

Community Archive Closing Share & DJ Set (5:00PM – 6:00PM)

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The CBSCM team includes Honey Pot Performance members Meida McNeal, Jo de Presser, and Abra Johnson as well as collaborators Duane Powell, Larissa Johnson, and Kimeco Roberson. Additional partners include Lauren Lowery, Skylah Sensahrae, Micah Salkind, and the Modern Dance Music Research & Archiving Foundation.
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Please note guests are encouraged to arrive early. Reserved tickets do not guarantee entry once capacity is reached.

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Tags: Abra Johnson, avery r. young, Ayana Contreras, Chicago, Duane Powell, Dwandalyn Reece, First Lady, Honey Pot Performance, Jo de Presser, Kevin McSwain, Kimeco Roberson, Larissa Johnson, Larry Taylor, Lauren Lowery, Meida McNeal, Micah Salkind, North Lawndale, Panelist – George Daniels, Rick Lenoir, Skylah Sensahrae, Smithsonian/National Museum of African American History & Culture, the Modern Dance Music Research & Archiving Foundation, VIck Lavender, Westside Justice Center Chicago Black Social Culture Map: Sounds & Spaces / Westside Edition