Package by JOEL RAMIREZ, NEWS3 Reporter
MACOMB, Illinois (Press Release) – The Western Illinois University 2023 Distinguished University Professor Peter Cole will deliver a Distinguished Faculty Lecture, “The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19),” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in the College of Fine Arts and Communication (COFAC) Recital Hall.
The lecture is open free to the public and will be live-streamed on WIU’s YouTube Channel.
Cole is a professor of history at WIU, first joining the University’s faculty in 2000. He is also the founder and co-director of a public art project in Chicago to commemorate the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. The project, CRR19, is working to place markers across the city at the locations where each of 38 lives were lost.
CRR 19 was launched in 2019 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the riot. Since then, numerous events have taken place to raise awareness of the project, including their annual historic tour of Bronzeville and Bridgeport, by bike, to highlight the history of places connected to the riot and its legacy, revealed in the city’s enduring residential segregation.
Cole said he is honored to be selected as this year’s Distinguished University Professor.
