It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate, report, explore, from WBEZ.

I'm Tierra Hicks, and I'm a senior at Simeon Career Academy. When it comes to black history, the only people I really learned about in school were

in Matil, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks. Oh, and Harriet Tubman. And me being a scholar,

I listen anyway. But are they really going to keep repeating the same thing? It's like when your

mom keeps telling you to do the dishes. It just makes

you not want to do the dishes. If I was teaching history, I'll tell you about Dr. B. Margaret

Burroughs.

What shall I tell my children who are black of what it means to be a captive in this dark skin? What shall I tell my children who are black of what it means to be a captive in this dark

skin?

What shall I tell my dear ones, fruit of my womb?

Dr. Burroughs was an artist and a poet in Chicago from the 1920s to her death in 2010.

She was also a teacher, an organizer, and a force to be reckoned with. She started to do Sabaul Black History Museum in her home in 1959.

That's big. That's how much that she cared and loved our people that she wanted to make sure that we know our history and our contribution civilization.

That's Cedric X Cal, one of Dr. B's former students, and this is what I really want to tell

you about, that she taught in prison for over 30 years. Who do you know who would travel 35 miles

every Tuesday on public transportation to Staveville for people who aren't even her kids.

She would get on the bus to train and make it there faithfully, like rain, sleet, snow, she would be there.

That's Anthony Spalding, another student.

Over the past couple years, me and some other young people have been interviewing Dr. B. Staville students here in Chicago.

How old were you when you met Dr. Burroughs?

People like Marcos Gray.

It was a few years after I had already been incarcerated at Stateville, and I was in my early 20s.

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