South Side Cool: Exploring the Cultural Wealth of Chicago for New Knowledge Production in Artist Activism and Entrepreneurial Ventures

Will Patterson presented "South Side Cool," defining "cultural wealth" as shared practices that reshape a nation's economic and socio-political terrain. He traced Great Migration legacies through Robert Abbott and the Chicago Defender, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Johnson Publishing and WVON, argued that these figures were already "coding," and described student projects linking the School of Information Sciences with Chicago State University's archives, plus his Ghetto Genius STEM work with Boys and Girls Clubs in Champaign and Dayton. A brief audience Q&A closed the session.