Lolly Bowean – Page 20

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Martin Nesbitt, left, chairman of the Obama Foundation, announce on May 12, 2015, that Chicago will be the home of Obama's presidential library and museum.

Hoping to ensure diverse workforce, Obama Foundation appoints firm, hires a new staffer

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

Months before they are set to break ground on the Obama Presidential Center, the Obama Foundation has appointed an agency and hired a staff member to ensure that the workers...

6-year-old Malachi Chapman, rides his scooter while members of the Obama Community Benefit Coalition start setting up for a rally against displacement, at an empty lot at 6300 South University Ave., in Chicago, on Wednesday, May 16, 2018.

At UIC, Obama Foundation hosts local community conversation

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

In her early days of living in the Cabrini Green public housing complex, the residents in her building picked up the trash and patrolled the elevators to make sure they...

Nora Brooks Blakely, daughter of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, left, and sculptor Margot McMahon speak to a group of children about poetry and a new statue of Gwendolyn Brooks at Gwendolyn Brooks Park on June 6, 2018, in Chicago.

On Gwendolyn Brooks’ birthday, a statue of the powerful poet will be unveiled on the South Side

December 13, 2018 at 5:53 a.m.

When she was a young girl growing up on the South Side, Gwendolyn Brooks would sit on her back porch and write, her daughter said. It was in that quiet...

Obama Presidential Center gets green light from full City Council

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

Culminating a three-year campaign by the Obama Foundation, the Chicago City Council on Wednesday approved measures to allow construction of the Obama Presidential Center. The approval, which came on a...

Rev. Leon Finney speaks in support of bringing the Obama Presidential Center to Jackson Park at the Chicago Plan Commission in Chicago on May 17, 2018.

As plans for Obama Presidential Center move forward, questions on housing linger

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

When longtime Woodlawn resident Sharon Payne stood before the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday to comment on plans for the Obama Presidential Center, she told them she was worried about...

Amid heated debate, city approves plan for Obama Presidential Center

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

After more than seven hours of emotional and passionate testimony from hundreds of residents, community activists and elected officials, the Chicago Plan Commission voted overwhelmingly to approve the Obama Presidential...

Former President Barack Obama speaks to Obama Foundation fellows gathered at the Stony Island Arts Bank on May 16, 2018, in Chicago.

Obama introduces first group of his foundation’s fellows

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

Former President Barack Obama appeared on the South Side on Wednesday to greet his first class of Obama Foundation fellows. The gathering was held at the Stony Island Arts Bank,...

Pedestrians walk past the entrance of Modern Cooperative, which has an Obama Presidential Center sign on the door, in the 1500 block of East 53rd Street in Chicago on May 8, 2018.

Obama Foundation makes final push for support before Plan Commission meeting Thursday

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

They have collected thousands of digital postcards from residents expressing their excitement about placing the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. They have hosted nine public meetings and hundreds of...

Ciarrah Gordon, right, gets a fitting for her prom dress being made by hand by Suzette Opara, left, in Opara's home on the South Side of Chicago on Monday, April 30, 2018.

South Side woman has carved out niche creating couture prom gowns for African-Americans

December 13, 2018 at 9:33 a.m.

Nearly every morning, Suzette Opara wakes before the sun rises and begins her meticulous work of hand-sewing and removing beads and sequins, carefully cutting silk, lace and jersey-knit fabrics into...

John Phillips Paulus stands next to a closed Church's Chicken on May 4, 2018, where he photographed the sisters living under a tarp.

Death prompts soul-searching about ‘sisters’ of Chatham: ‘We all feel like we knew them, but we didn’t know them at all’

May 23, 2019 at 12:47 a.m.

The two women had long been an enigma in the South Side's Chatham neighborhood. They set up camp in parking lots, outside of shuttered office spaces and in public parks,...

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