Racial Equity & Real Estate Conversations: The Black Tax

The National Public Housing Museum, in partnership with the Cook County Assessor’s Office’s Racial Equity and Real Estate Conversations, presents historian Andrew W. Kahrl (author of The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America) and social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson (2021–2022 Artist as Instigator at the National Public Housing Museum and co-author of Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It), in conversation about the history of racist and predatory real estate practices and their devastating impact on Chicago’s most vulnerable communities.

Shining a light on Land Sale Contracts, over taxation, state laws allowing the sale of unpaid tax debts to private investors, and more, Kahrl and Johnson expose this devastating history and share the stories of the fierce organizers and activists who battled against corruption, and lessons of past struggles that remain relevant to us today.

Moderated by Kelwin Harris, Cook County Assessor’s Office, and featuring closing remarks by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi.

Register here!