Meet the HistoryMakers: A Day of Education

Beginning in 2002, The HistoryMakers has hosted Meet the HistoryMakers: A Day of Education as part of its year-long educational initiative in Chicago Public Schools. The event attracts an audience of more than 300 Chicago public school students, teachers and librarians who participate in a wide range of interactive sessions.

Some of the past sessions have included students turning the tables on accomplished journalists by asking them questions during Interviewing the MediaMakers, featuring HistoryMakers Harry Porterfield, Don Wycliff, LaDonna Tittle, Dorothy Leavell and moderator Mary Mitchell. They have learned how to play harmonica while they were taught how the blues began. Local blues singer Fernando Jones and Shirley King, daughter of B.B. King, oversaw the Blues in the Schools sessions. Students, teachers and panelists interacted in panels covering a variety of subject areas from law to business to art.

The purpose of this day is to provide a symposium where students can interact with HistoryMakers from across the country from a wide variety of fields and for instructors to receive hands-on training for classroom instruction, using a variety of sources, including The HistoryMakers website and other instructional materials.