Join WTTW’s Chicago Tonight for a virtual event, BLACK VOICES: A WTTW News Community Conversation, on Monday, January 29, 2024 at 12:00 pm.

The effort to memorialize the Illinois Black Panther Party and include its history in the National Register of Historic Places has sparked support and controversy due to differing opinions about how the organization’s legacy should be upheld, and who should tell the story.

Chicago Tonight co-anchor and Chicago Tonight: Black Voices host Brandis Friedman will moderate a conversation with journalist and executive director of the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Leila Wills; Ms. Lonnie Hall, member of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panthers; and Loyola University Public History Program graduate students Mikey Spehn and Adam Yunis. The panel will outline their efforts to memorialize the Illinois Black Panther Party, and focus on political and economic equality and community services in different parts of the country, including its free breakfast and healthcare programs. 

Lead support for CHICAGO TONIGHT: BLACK VOICES is provided by Fifth Third Bank. Additional support is provided by Allstate, Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Julian Grace Foundation, Gertrude Dyane and James H. Wooten, Jr., and Drs. Ian and Tristé Smith.