In February 2015, I uncovered lost footage of the aftermath of the capsizing of the SS Eastland in the Chicago, the deadliest disaster in Chicago’s history. This discovery made national and international news. I have worked as an archival researcher for ’63 Boycott, a Kartemquin Films documentary on the 1963 protests against school segregation in Chicago. I have written for Chicago Reader, Chicago Magazine, and Journalism History.
I have worked over two decades in Chicago neighborhoods–as a VISTA volunteer involved in community development, a mental health worker at a facility for patients transitioning from institutions to independent life, and as an instructor teaching immigrants English. I am completing a doctorate in history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in American history during the Progressive Era. My dissertation examines Chicago newspapers during the First World War.