MEDIA CONTACT

Rachel Hatch | Public Communications Manager | 312-799-2161 | hatch@chicagohistory.org

On Thursday, November 14, 2019 students from Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy met with six members of the Chicago History Museum’s staff and leadership to share their concerns regarding Latinx representation in the museum and to discuss their petition for change following their visit to the museum in September.

The Chicago History Museum thanks the students for proactively pursuing a dialogue through their petition and for leading the discussion at the museum. We also want to express our thanks to the faculty and staff of Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy for supporting the students in their effort to organize this meeting.

The meeting lasted for 2.5 hours as students shared the issues they identified in their petition, which included a demand for better representation of Chicago’s Latinx community’s history in the museum’s galleries and collections, a commitment to share this history on an ongoing basis, and an expectation of an apology from the museum for failing to feature the significant contributions of Chicago’s Latinx community to the city’s history. The students also requested that the museum work with them to develop a pan-Latinx advisory council to help the museum address these issues in consideration of future projects.

Together, the students and the museum staff set a date for a second meeting on December 3 to discuss ways to address the students’ concerns and expectations. The museum welcomes the opportunity to better represent the Latinx community and all of Chicago’s diverse communities.

The Chicago History Museum regrets that these students did not find satisfying representations of Chicago’s Latinx community in the museum and we apologize for not having done a better job of sharing stories of this community and its significant contributions to the city’s history. The Chicago History Museum’s mission is to share Chicago stories and we are always seeking to improve and learn from the communities we hope to serve. We are excited by the opportunity to continue to work with these students and the faculty and staff of Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy to make positive, authentic change at the museum.

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ABOUT THE CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

The Chicago History Museum is situated on ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi people, who cared for the land until forced out by non-Native settlers. Established in 1856, the Museum is now at 1601 N. Clark Street in Lincoln Park, its third location. As a major museum and research center for Chicago and U.S. history, the Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, publications, special events and programming, the Museum connects people to Chicago’s history and to each other. To share Chicago stories, the Museum collects and preserves millions of artifacts, documents, images and other items that are relevant to the city’s history. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Chicago Park District on behalf of the people of Chicago.