Political Moses: The Activism of U of I’s First Black Trustee

• Event Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
• Time: 7:00 pm–9:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL

• Talk

John J. Bird was one of the most important civil rights leaders of Post‐Civil War Illinois. As leader of Illinois' second largest Black community, located in the city of Cairo during the 1860s‐80s, Bird oversaw the establishment of the city's Black Republican wing that provided the community with unprecedented political influence within this hostile, majority‐white, Democratic town. Bird rose to prominence across Illinois as the state's first Black judge and university trustee, a leader in the Black convention movement, and a significant newspaper editor in Cairo and Springfield.

Join us for a conversation on John Bird's remarkable career with Dr. Wayne T. Pitard, author of Watchman Tell Us: John J. Bird and Black Politics in Post‐Civil War Illinois, and Dr. Sundiata Cha‐Jua, Associate Professor in African American Studies and History, the author of America's First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830‐1915.

A reception will follow.