America's first automobile race was on Thanksgiving in 1865 from the Museum of Science and Industry up to Evanston.  A man by the name Elisha Gray, who lived in Highland Park, was the first inventor of the telephone. Rich Lindberg tells us stories from his latest book, Tales of Forgotten Chicago. 

Realtor Rob Medinger will share actionable strategies to help you declutter, stage, and decide what to update as you prepare to sell your home.

Roberta Dietzen shares a family history about love, irrevocable loss, and the continuing generational trauma of the Holocaust on families. Dietzen will focus on the importance of educating the world about the Holocaust and being advocates of Holocaust education.

Chicago-based jazz singer, Elaine Dame, sings and people stop to listen. The woman who Time Out, Chicago calls a “jazz dynamo” and “a gem in the city’s vocal jazz scene” has been turning heads for the past twenty years, a mainstay of the Chicago jazz scene.

Living historian Kevin Wood will provide a first-person historical portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. Wood will discuss the momentous events of his own life and the life of the nation during Lincoln's time. Hear Lincoln's best-known speeches and writings, and be inspired to hope, as he did for a "new birth of freedom" for the United States.

The popular narrative most students learn is a feel-good story of progress that focuses on MLK and Rosa Parks. Drawing on the recent book by Jeanne Theoharis, A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History, Dr. William Barnett gives a more accurate narrative that notes the ongoing efforts to address economic inequality, criminal justice, and other issues.

Dr. Marquis Bey will discuss the radical black feminist tradition, and, through anecdote and poetic musing provide sense of how we might begin to shift our cultural thinking to align with radical black feminism.

Chicago-native Natalie Moore gives a presentation on her book, The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation. With a memoirist's eye, she showcases the lives of these communities through the stories of people who reside there. The South Side shows the impact of Chicago's historic segregation and the ongoing policies that keep the system intact.

Carole Magnuson shows you ways to organize your materials, reduce piles of paper and arrange information in a format that can be used as a foundation for creating and publishing your family history book.

Dr. Marisa Fontana, Archaeologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology at North Central College in Naperville, highlights the skeletal and cultural evidence for human evolution from the scientific perspective. This presentation focuses on how the physical body has changed over time from our pre-human ancestors to the present. She also discusses when in our evolution certain behavioral thresholds were met: bipedalism, creation of tools, use of fire, language, clothing, and art. Skeletal and artifact reproductions are utilized during the presentation.

Actor Betsy Means performs as Jane Addams to tell her story. Addams was a crusader for social justice and a dedicated American who devoted her life to caring for the underprivileged and oppressed. She fought for the rights of workers, women, and children. Addams is a pioneer in the field of modern social work. In 1931, she was co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.