Community Conversations
History Belongs to All of Us
In partnership with ten Illinois communities, Community Conversations will explore local history through facilitated conversations and humanities-driven activities that help us center curiosity and active listening; encourage us to embrace fresh perspectives; and remind us of the wealth we have and gain from remaining connected.
The focus this cycle is “History Belongs to All of Us,” marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States. Together, we will explore treasures from Illinois archives and collections to uncover how the people who lived in Illinois before, during, and after the founding of the United States responded to this world-changing document. While Illinois would not be part of the United States until 1783, it was diverse with European immigrants from mostly France and Britain living alongside Native Kaskaskia, Peoria, Michigamea, Moingwena, Tamoroa, and Cahokia tribes. Enslaved Fulani, Ashanti, Yoruba, and Mandinka people -- immigrants against their will -- labored in salt mines, agriculture, and service in different parts of the territory even through early statehood. In this way, Illinois reflected the complex history of the nation itself as the Declaration of Independence and its influence spread across the globe.
Apply to Host Community Conversations
Know Before You Apply | Sample Activities of Toolkit
About our Theme, "History Belongs to All of Us"
“History Belongs to All of Us” commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States. It emphasizes the joy of investigating history in its rawest form: the primary document, the artifact, and the eyewitness story. Participants in "History Belongs to All of Us” programming will have the opportunity to investigate and interpret primary documents from Illinois’s archives, visit and examine our material history in the form of collected objects and historic sites, and reflect on the ways our present is shaped by what we preserve and remember.
Illinois was not a state until 1818 and was not even considered a territory of the United States until the Northwest Ordinance of 1783. Yet, those who lived in Illinois were deeply affected by the Declaration of Independence and the creation of a new nation, particularly one founded on ideals of equality and representative governance. In 1776, Illinois was home to French, British, and German immigrants and enslaved Fulani and Mandinka people from West Africa, as well as Native Kaskaskia, Peoria, Michigamea, Moingwena, Tamaroa, and Cahokia peoples, among others.
How the diverse population in Illinois responded to, understood, and acted in dialogue with the ideas of the Declaration of Independence can be observed in documents and artifacts produced in Illinois, collected in our state’s archives and museums, and visible in our landscapes. “History Belongs to All of Us” invites us to get to know our own state’s early history through the lens of the Declaration of Independence and its world-changing impact.
Resources
- Watch the "Know Before You Apply" video
This video provides an overview of the application process for the 2025 "History Belongs to All of Us" Community Conversations series and offers tips for applying.
- Review the sample toolkit
This sample toolkit gives you an idea of what types of activities and documents will be explored in the series. Note: The "History Belongs to All of Us" Toolkit will be available in February 2026.
Apply to Host
“History Belongs to All of Us” Community Conversations take place at host organizations throughout the state. The program provides our partners the opportunity to supplement, enhance, or expand their own programming and mission by engaging current audiences – and connecting with new ones – through the power of facilitated dialogue and shared, humanities-driven activity.
Each host organization facilitates at least two dialogues and one or more activities over the course of 4-6 months prompted by the “History Belongs to All of Us” toolkit, which Illinois Humanities will provide. Through individual consultation and group workshops, Illinois Humanities staff members work closely with each host organization to provide facilitation training and curate a series of events aligned with the “History Belongs to All of Us” theme that is tailored to the organization’s own needs.
Organizations that are selected to host Community Conversations include museums, libraries, arts councils, historical societies, and other community groups and institutions. They are ambitious, creative, and committed to advancing their work through outstanding programming.
Illinois Humanities covers the fees for travel and lodging for facilitation training and makes up to $1,750 available to host organizations to support Community Conversations programming in their communities. We encourage host organizations to use these funds to provide a warm, welcoming space for conversation, support greater access to new and longstanding audiences, and pay honoraria, as needed.
The application will open at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, and close at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 14, 2025. Applicants will be notified in January 2026.
Note: The "History Belongs to All of Us" Toolkit will be available in February 2026.
Host Organizations
Illinois Humanities is proud to work with this inspiring group of host organizations and is excited about the events they facilitate as part of the Community Conversations program. Their commitment to the humanities and lifelong learning is at the core of their mission and values.
Current Host Organizations
Coming soon.
Past Host Organizations
- Since its founding in 1987 as Carbondale Community Arts, Artspace 304 has nurtured generations of artists and creators. It aims to platform creative talent throughout the region, and reflect the vibrancy of the many communities of Southern Illinois. Artspace 304 is particularly committed to supporting young people’s involvement in cultural spaces, including through its yearly summer camp and youth group exhibition, and various other activities focused on advancing the next generation of creative talent. (Carbondale) Follow @artspace304: Website | Instagram | Facebook
- The Little Village Branch of Chicago Public Library opened on October 3, 2011, and serves the neighborhoods of Little Village and Lawndale. As part of the Chicago Public Library system, which opened in 1873, the Little Village branch provides equal access and free and open places to gather, learn, connect, read, and be transformed in the pursuit of lifelong learning. (Little Village, Chicago) Follow @chicagopubliclibrary: Website | Instagram | Facebook
- With a commitment to the community and a focus on the future, the mission of the Naperville Heritage Society is to collect, document, preserve, and support the history of Naperville, Illinois past and present. The Naper Settlement, established in 1969, also operates under the direction and governance of the Naperville Heritage Society. (Naperville) Follow @napersettlement: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
- In 2007, civic leaders, preservationists, historians, cultural experts, and many others joined with residents to help incorporate the National Public Housing Museum, which has since then offered transformative programs that connect the past with contemporary issues of social justice and human rights. The Museum’s mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home. (Near West Side, Chicago) Follow @thenphm: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
- Since 1963, the McHenry County Historical Society has strived to engage and educate current and future generations about their county's history. In addition to operating the museum, the Society plaques historic sites and structures, hosts workshops and classes, makes satellite exhibits available, and arranges a wide variety of school and other group programs. (Union) Follow @mchenrycountyhistory: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
- Kuumba Lynx (KL) is an urban arts youth development organization founded in 1996 by three women, Jaquanda Villegas, Leida Garcia-Mukwacha, and Jacinda Bullie. For two decades, alongside many of Chicago’s artists, activists, educators, and youth communities, KL has honed an arts making practice that presents, preserves and promotes Hip Hop as a tool to reimagine and demonstrate a more just world. (Uptown, Chicago) Follow @kuumbalynx: Website | Instagram | Facebook
- CIRCA-Pintig's roots trace back to the early 1980s when its founders, newly arrived from the Philippines, found support and inspiration in the immigrant communities of Chicago. Born from the experiences of political refugees and economic migrants, the organization embodies the resilience, creativity, and communal spirit of immigrant communities. (Palmer Square, Chicago) Follow @circapintigtheatre: Website | Instagram | Facebook
- Fourtunehouse Art Center’s mission is to create spaces and opportunities for artists, entrepreneurs, and organizers to express themselves and contribute to a thriving creative ecosystem. Located in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, Fortunehouse Art Center features five primary exhibition walls and three collection walls, all suitable for a variety of multidisciplinary arts programming and community-building. (Bronzeville, Chicago) Follow @fourtunehouse: Website (under construction) | Instagram
"A Place in the World"
Between March and August 2025, Illinois Humanities produced Community Conversations: A Place in the World. The phrase “A Place in the World” reminds us that the places where we live and work shape and are shaped by ideas, people, resources, histories, and events around the world – often in unexpected and curious ways. This is not a feature limited to the 21st century. It has always defined human existence even as the concept of “the world” continues to expand. Together, we thought about change over time and the ways that places, including our own hometowns, can have different identities for different people in different moments.
We considered the United States itself. For nearly 300 years, the regions that would become the United States were home to multiple nations, most of which were indigenous to the land and others of which were colonies of nations far away. By 1776, people around the world watched as a new nation on the very same land, the United States, announced itself on the global stage. Over time, the place we now call the United States has had differing “places in the world” and different meanings for both its inhabitants and observers. And the people who have identified as Americans over time have brought – and still bring – knowledge, cultures, practices, and even language from other parts of the world that enrich the American way of life. How do we celebrate this special American history in our personal “places,” while also embracing change?
Community Conversations Toolkit
Community Conversations: A Place in the World supported Illinois-based communities in creating space for shared conversation, activity, learning, and connection.
These community conversations:
- Centered curiosity and active listening;
- Encouraged us to embrace fresh perspectives, de-familiarize the familiar, and re-discover each other in a new context;
- Invited us to remember and retell our own stories and the stories of our
communities; and, - Reminded us of the wealth we have and gain from remaining connected.
The Community Conversations Toolkit serves as a guide for host organizations to plan activities around this theme. It contains promotional materials and additional resources.
The NEA Big Read
From 2021 to 2024, Illinois Humanities participated in the NEA Big Read in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest. This community book group and events series directly inspired our Community Conversations program, which continues our work to create spaces where shared reading experiences help us better understand ourselves and our neighbors.
Below is a brief history of our Big Read programming, which explored three distinct themes in partnership with communities across Chicago and Illinois.
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2023-2024 NEA Big Read:
The NEA Big Read: Reconsidering the American Dream was a series of critical conversations across Illinois that explored the evolving idea of the "American Dream." These conversations were framed by reading and discussion groups engaged with two books: Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh, and Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. -
2022-2023 NEA Big Read:
The NEA Big Read: Indigenous Stories celebrated the diverse Indigenous heritages of North America through free community book groups, public discussions, and hands-on workshops. Presented in English and Spanish, the books included There There by Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho), Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz (Mojave), and New Moon/Luna Nueva by Enriqueta Lunez, a Mexican poet who writes in English, Spanish, and Tsotsil. -
2021-2022 NEA Big Read:
Rememory: haunting, trauma, and historical fiction was inspired by the multiple reckonings we encounter and absorb as we imagined more flourishing, inclusive futures together. No vision for such a future can be sustained without a deep regard for how the past, with its traumas and victories, has produced our present. The texts explored in this series used the supernatural, magical realism, and science fiction to give life, agency, and dimension to histories that are at once unbearable and necessary for us to confront. Texts used included Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Octavia Butler’s Kindred, and Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World. -
Beginnings: Indigenous Stories at the Field Museum
Illinois Humanities celebrated the launch of "The NEA Big Read: Indigenous Stories" with our friends at the Field Museum amongst their groundbreaking exhibition, "Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories" on Saturday, November 19, 2022. -
Growing Up Poor: A Documentary Film Screening & Community Discussion
Presented as part of the 2023-2024 NEA Big Read and hosted by the LaSalle Public Library and Oglesby Public Library, this free screening and discussion invites guests to learn more about issues facing families experiencing poverty and share their hopes and ideas for future generations of Illinoisans.
The NEA Big Read Resources
Below are DIY toolkits that will allow you to start a reading group in your community based on two themes: Reconsidering the American Dream and Indigenous Stories.
- Download the Reconsidering the American Dream DIY Toolkit
- Download the Indigenous Stories DIY Toolkit
Contact Us
Nicole Prahin Rodriguez
Senior Manager of Community Conversations
conversations@ilhumanities.org
(312) 374-1558
Funders
Contact
Suite 650, 125 South Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60603
312.422.5580 312.374.6787 Fax
Illinois Humanities is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Illinois General Assembly [through the Illinois Arts Council], as well as by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations.
Illinois Humanities respects the privacy of its audiences and will at no time sell or distribute personal information to any party not directly affiliated with Illinois Humanities and its programs.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by speakers, program participants, or audiences do not necessarily reflect those of the NEH, Illinois Humanities, our partnering organizations, or our funders.
© Copyright 2025 Illinois Humanities