Welcome to the Year 1919!

Suppose a time machine set you smack down in the Loop on State Street in 1919.

What would you find there? What would be going on in the economy, or in politics, or the arts, or technology? You can now find out with CMHEC’s latest teaching tool--an interactive CD-ROM entitled "1919! Chicago and the World."

This unique reading and writing program makes you to the historian as you sift through documents and photographs, listen to oral histories, and enjoy the top jazz, opera, and pop tunes of the day. You will explore such topics as the 1919 race riot, new roles for women, the increasing uses of electricity, trends in the arts, labor organizing, business developments, and more.

"1919!" was created with the help of some of the finest scholars and institutions in the city. Funded by the Joyce Foundation and Ameritech, the CD-ROM is distributed free to Chicago Public Schools.

From time to time, we will post selections from “1919!” to acquaint you with the rich primary sources available. Our first sample concerns the massive Steel Strike of 1919 where nearly half a million workers from across the country walked off the job in a valiant struggle to win the eight-hour day, decent working conditions, and collective bargaining. Additional selections from the 1919 CD-ROM are available at www.lib.uchicago.edu/ecuip/diglib/social/chi1919/