• Mary Jane Richardson Jones: The First Lady of Black Chicago

    Long before Chicago became known for towering skyscrapers and bustling streets, there was a woman quietly building something far more enduring—a legacy. Her name was Mary Jane Richardson Jones. If you’ve never heard of her, you’re not alone. History has a habit of overlooking Black women, even the ones who helped shape cities. But without…


  • Sharpshooters of My Bloodline

    Lately I’ve been thinking about my great-grandfather and his little brother. They were enslaved on the Barrow Plantation in Louisiana when they made the decision to run. How they did it, I will never know. At just eighteen and fifteen years old, they chose motion over fear, the unknown over the certainty of chains. They…