Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Running Tour

Read & Run Chicago is partnering with the The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19), author Claire Hartfield, and Lookingglass Theater for a special, one-of-a-kind running tour commemorating the 1919 Chicago Race Riot on the same day and in the same place the multi-day riots began over 100 years ago.

The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 is long forgotten, despite its huge impact on the subsequent shape and development of the city. Runners will stop at various locations in Bronzeville featured in Claire Hartfield’s book and learn more about the devastating and lasting impact the events had on the city. Starting and ending from the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach), this running event includes an easy-paced, 5-mile loop in Bronzeville featuring author Claire Hartfield, CRR19 directors Peter Cole and Franklin N. Cosey-Gay, and Dan Duster, great grandson of Ida B. Wells. At the end of our route, runners will have the option to watch the Lookingglass Theater performance of , an artistic ritual featuring music, movement, art and word, commemorating the start of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot.

This event is child friendly, so parents: please feel free to bring your children to start teaching them about this important event in our city’s history!

Here are all the details:

MEET: Meet at 5pm on Thursday, July 27 at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach). Please read here for driving and parking directions.

ROUTE: Easy-paced, 5-mile loop starting and ending at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach).

OPTIONAL PREPARE: As this special collaboration is a tour, reading the book ahead of time is optional. If you choose to read , we strongly encourage you to purchase the book from Rose Cafe’s online bookshop using this link. Alternatively, you can borrow a copy from your local branch of the Chicago Public Library (here's how to get a card if you don't have one).

POST-RUN: Our run ends at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, Chicago (¼ mile north of 31st Street Beach) by 6:55pm. We will stay to watch Lookingglass Theater’s free outdoor performance of , an artistic ritual featuring music, movement, art and word, commemorating the start of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot.

All registered runners will receive reminder details two days and four hours prior to the event. This event has limited spots.

About the Partners:

About : Read & Run Chicago is the city's first and only running tour organization with routes built by stories! Our free running tours and book club runs are inspired by books set in Chicago, written by local authors. We connect runners and authors to run with purpose, explore thoughtfully, and bring books to life! Read & Run Chicago is queer woman-founded and operated. All bodies, paces, and walks of life all welcome. We've been featured in various media outlets including Runner's World, WGN Radio, Block Club Chicago, and more.

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About CRR19: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19) exists to commemorate the worst incident of racial violence in the city’s history. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 is long forgotten, despite its huge impact on the subsequent shape and development of the city. CRR19 will offer a powerful model for how to use dispersed public art to remember past atrocities and provoke conversations about their legacy to ignite conversations about racism, past and present, in Chicago and the nation. Inspired by Stolpersteine, an ongoing German project to honor Holocaust victims, we intend to create and install artistic markers at each of the 38 locations where someone was killed in 1919. Formally launched on the 100th anniversary of the 1919 riot, we believe that now is the moment for Chicago to confront its bloodiest chapter and heal the wounds that time alone has not. We must remember America’s troubled past of racial violence and white supremacy if we wish to improve the future. To move towards racial equality and justice by creating chances for more discussions and more challenging ones about race and racism, past and present.

CRR19 website: https://chicagoraceriot.org/CRR19 introductory video:

About : Founded in 1988 by graduates of Northwestern University, Lookingglass Theatre Company is a nationwide leader in the creation and presentation of new, cutting-edge theatrical works and in sharing its ensemble-based theatrical techniques with Chicago-area students and teachers through Education and Community Programs. Guided by an artistic vision centered on the core values of collaboration, transformation, and invention, Lookingglass seeks to capture audiences’ imaginations leaving them changed, charged and empowered.

WAIVERBy registering for this run, I acknowledge that Read & Run Chicago is not responsible for any personal harm endured by participants. I am aware that this run, in addition to the usual dangers and risks inherent, has certain additional dangers and risks, some of which include: physical exertion for which I may not be prepared and weather extremes subject to sudden and unexpected change. I accept all the inherent risks of the proposed route and the possibility of personal injury, death or property damage or loss resulting there from. I agree that if I suffer injury or illness Read & Run Chicago can, at my cost, arrange any medical treatment and emergency evacuation service as it or they deem necessary for my health and safety.I agree to have my photograph taken at the run to be used on social media and Read & Run Chicago's website. By reserving the ticket(s), I affirm that I have fully understood and agree to these Terms and Conditions, Waiver and Release of Liability.

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