Cemeteries are mysterious places with magical names – cenotaphs, crypts, footstones, headstones, memorials, plots, tombs, urns, vaults and such – words that seldom surface in everyday discourse, unless you operate a funeral home. I’ve always been intrigued by these places, especially knowing I’ll probably end up in one. And I’ve been known to wander Springfield’s […]
Culture
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Performing in a pandemic
Reggie Guyton’s star was rising when the pandemic hit. In 2019, he directed Memphis – a musical with a diverse cast that features interracial love – set during the 1950s. For an adult show, cast members skewed young, and the talent on stage at the Hoogland Center for the Arts was immense. The production was […]
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Sangamon County beginnings
Sangamon County’s humble beginnings seem so distant as we approach the bicentennial of the founding of the county on Jan. 30, 1821. Our founders owed their survival largely to the fertile soils created by glaciation, primarily during the Illinoian Period of 191,000 to 130,000 years ago. Native Americans introduced early settlers to corn and several […]
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Springfield’s got talent
Springfield Area Arts Council winners and runners’ up in the 2020 talent contest. Kids: Vocal Winner: Kayleigh Paris “I’m Going to Love You” by Meghan Trainor http://media.secondstreetapp.com/videos/3744199 Runner up: Elsie Hagan s Love Is An Open Door http://media.secondstreetapp.com/videos/3737914 Kids: Performance Arts Winner: Annaliese Lost Boy Dance by Annaliese http://media.secondstreetapp.com/videos/3735023 Young Adult: Vocal Winner: Evelyn Vinzant […]
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World War II South Pacific vet remembers there was… “A lot of praying going on.”
To Ed Sathoff, 94, of Petersburg, Veterans Day is an important holiday. “It is hard to explain, but it means everything to me,” Sathoff says. “It means we must remember our freedoms. We have the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion and the God-given right to vote. Many other countries don’t have these rights.” […]
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History and healing
Vincent “June” Chappelle grew up in Chicago in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Chatham. As an adolescent he got into a box of family photographs and began to piece together his origins. He found out his family was tied to a plantation. He is the descendant of a slaveholder from South Carolina. Chappelle called the […]
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Springfield’s Black LGBTQ trailblazer
In a climate where Black, Indigenous and other people of color still struggle to live freely, those who have paved the way for a more equitable world too often go unrecognized. People of color who lived at the intersection of other marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ, can be especially overlooked. Ruth Ellis lived outwardly and […]
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Springfield’s first African American high school graduate
Last year North Point Boulevard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was renamed Morgan Avenue. Readers might not think that noteworthy until they learn that the person honored with a street name was a Springfield native. She was Gertrude Wright Morgan, an African American whose life, and the lives of others in her family, were remarkable evidence that […]
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Determined to tell the story
This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. For more stories about the effect of COVID-19 on museums, please visit the Prairie State Museums Project at PrairieStateMuseumsProject.org. Like museums all over the world, the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum (AAHM) closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the […]
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The Colored Section
It’s about as far as you can get from the main entrance to the sprawling Oak Ridge Cemetery, one of the nation’s most visited burial grounds. Go past the soaring monument to the Great Emancipator, meander a bit toward the north, pass the Wishing Well and maintenance shed, and take the steep, one-lane pavement that […]
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Capturing stories of life in Illinois
This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. For more stories about the effect of COVID-19 on museums, please visit the Prairie State Museums Project at PrairieStateMuseumsProject.org. The COVID-19 pandemic rocked the entire planet in 2020. The world has changed forever. Undoubtedly, history will record the number of cases and worldwide death toll, […]
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Making history
As demonstrators continue to plea for justice for people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Juneteenth was marked differently this year. Many say its unofficial status is proof that, collectively, we need to do a better job of acknowledging our roots. The Juneteenth holiday comes from an announcement of emancipation made in Texas on June […]
