Multiple times a day, in cities across the US and beyond, a simple yet powerful message is repeated by the well-meaning, the ill-informed, and the bigoted: “don’t go”–avoid at all costs those Black and Brown disinvested neighborhoods that have become bywords for social disorder and urban decay. This book, Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It, is a collection of intimate stories and evocative photos that uncover the hidden influence of both subtle and overt “don’t go” messages and the segregation they perpetuate in Chicago. Told by everyday people to Tonika Lewis Johnson and Maria Krysan–a Black artist and a White academic who met through their shared passion for anti-segregation work – the stories paint a rich picture of life in a segregated city.
Dimensions: 6 x 9"
Materials: Hardcover Book, 286 pg
Folded Map Project
(Englewood)
Tonika Lewis Johnson, a lifelong Englewood resident, is a photographer and multimedia artist, and creator of the Folded Map Project. She is recipient of the 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship and one of Chicago Magazine’s 2017 Chicagoans of the Year.
Maria Krysan is LAS Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago, and co-author of the multiple award-winning book Cycle of Segregation.