Class Description
Chicago led the nation in musical creativity and diversity in style to become the center of rhythm and blues in the decades immediately following World War II. We will trace the history of Chicago’s “Record Row” with its amazing twenty-five record labels and distributors and discuss how Chicago's independents, especially the African-American-owned Vee-Jay and One-derful, along with Chess and Okeh, created national and international markets for R&B. The Great Migration, de facto segregation, public housing, religion, youth culture, and Black radio all shaped Chicago’s rhythm and blues culture and will be discussed throughout the class. Join this musical adventure where each evening will also be filled with electrifying R&B clips drawn from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Dr. Chris Stacey has taught the history of Chicago at DePaul University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He recently taught a class on the Black Panthers at the Newberry Library and continues to present his fourth year of virtual public lectures on the history of Chicago.
Materials List
Required
- Instructor-Distributed Materials
Cost and Registration
5 sessions, $215 ($193 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.
To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.
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