Alt Pullman

June 20, 2026

Everyone Belongs in History: 1880s Black Founders of Pullman’s North End Celebrate Juneteenth and Father’s Day by rediscovering and honoring the stories of three Black founding families of Pullman’s North End.

Opening Friday! Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies, curated by Juelle Daley, presents a new body of work by artist Shane-Jahi Jackson, developed through his research residency at the Newberry Library in Chicago and informed by the archives of the Pullman Company. Through an ensemble of figur...

In late March 1880, architect Irving K. Pond joined Solon S. Beman’s office and was immediately assigned to help design the first building constructed in the new town of Pullman: the Allen Paper Car Wheel Company. Located just north of the Pullman Passenger Car Works, the massive industrial complex stretched 360 feet and was divided into two large sections connected by a prominent two-story central block. The front portion contained the company offices, while the rear housed drying rooms, lathes, and manufacturing spaces used in the production of paper railroad car wheels. Additional attached buildings included a foundry for casting iron wheel hubs and centers, along with a pattern shop, blacksmith shop, boiler house, and storage rooms. Pond’s early work on the building’s roof trusses and construction details marked the beginning of his important role in shaping Pullman’s industrial landscape.

Pullman's sewage used to go to George's vegetable farm, the produce was then sold back to the residents for profit... now it goes here. Guests can take home free oak tree saplings, plus milkweed seeds and native wildflower seeds while supplies last!

📣 Visit our Calumet Water Reclamation Plant TOMORROW, Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 400 East 130th Street, Chicago, Illinois! Discover how wastewater from homes and businesses is treated through guided tours. There will be hands-on STEAM activities for all ages along with information about careers with the MWRD. Guests can take home free oak tree saplings, plus milkweed seeds and native wildflower seeds while supplies last. Remember to bring any unused medications to drop off at the permanent collection box located at the entrance. Advanced registration is not required. See you soon!

📷 Work on a new roadway at the under-construction Calumet Water Reclamation Plant in Chicago on July 27, 1922.

Today in Labor History May 16, 1918: Congress passed the Sedition Act against radicals and pacifists, leading to the arrest, imprisonment, ex*****on and deportation of dozens of unionists, anarchists and communists. The law forbade the use of “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive” language about the U.S. government, its flag, or it military. The mainstream press supported the act, despite the significant limitations it imposed on free speech and of press freedom. In June, 1918, the government arrested Eugene Debs for violating the act by undermining the government’s conscription efforts. He served 18 months in prison. Congress repealed the act in 1920, since world War I had ended. However, Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, lobbied for a peacetime version of it. Additionally, he continued to round up labor activists, communists and anarchist for seditious behavior, particularly Wobblies, or members of the IWW. For example, they convicted Marie Equi for giving a speech at the IWW hall in Portland, Oregon after WWI had ended. Today, President Trump is attempting to bring it back with decrees forbidding criticism of the U.S. government, capitalism, traditional marriage, Israel, and even fascism, while also forbidding speech in support of transgender rights and safety.

Thinking...

It’s late on a Friday night, and we have once again responded to a comment claiming that “History is written by the victors.”

That phrase gets repeated so often it’s treated like wisdom, when it’s really a shortcut that shuts down deeper thinking.

Power may shape the first draft of history, but it does not own the truth. History is rewritten by the witnesses, reclaimed by descendants, and protected by communities who refuse to be erased.

ATALM exists because Native nations refuse to let distorted narratives stand unchallenged, and because telling history right requires sovereignty, accountability, and care.

Photo credit: This is from Nikki Mandell and Bobbie Malone’s book Thinking Like a Historian: Rethinking History Instruction, published in 2008 by Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Dr. Mandell had taught at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Bobbie Malone was the Director of School Services for the Wisconsin Historical Society.

are you kidding me?

LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Labor Heritage Foundation “It’s not only the erasure of history. On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the birth of this country, this is a historical outrage. This is historical blasphemy.” Michael Coard, a founding member of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, commenting on the removal on an exhibit on slavery at ...