Black Wall Street Journey

Project Timeline


  1. Black Wall Street Journey begins

    Black Wall Street Journey begins as Rick Lowe develops a Chicago-based project exploring the building of Black wealth through public art and community engagement.


  2. Kathleen Cagney joins the project


  3. Neubauer Collegium support

    Black Wall Street Journey receives support from the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, the research team includes Drs. Kathleen Cagney and Robert Vargas of the University of Chicago, Charlie Catlett from Argonne National Laboratory, and Nicholas Marchio of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation. This support allows the team to work with National Opinion Research Center (NORC).


  4. Allstate Foundation support

    Black Wall Street Journey receives support from the Allstate Foundation.


  5. Black Wall Street Journey survey

    The Black Wall Street Journey survey instrument, developed with NORC, launches.


  6. Greenwood Art Project

    The goal of the Greenwood Art Project is to be a catalyst for uniting the city of Tulsa by working with artists, residents, leaders, organizations, and businesses to elevate awareness of Greenwood’s history, focusing on the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the once thriving Black Wall Street. Lead artists: William Cordova and Rick Lowe


  7. Toward Common Cause Exhibition

    Toward Common Cause: The MacArthur Fellows Program at 40 opens in July. Black Wall Street Journey installations appear at the Smart Museum of Art, Urban Juncture with an installation by artist Dorian Sylvain, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Sharp Building. The Black Wall Street Journey poster project, a collaboration with journalist Natalie Moore and artist Amanda Williams, is featured in all three installations and on bus shelters throughout the city of Chicago. 


  8. CHOP IT UP: Black Wall Street Journey

    CHOP IT UP: Black Wall Street Journey is presented as a three-part conversation series about the Black economy, hosted by artist Rick Lowe and journalist Natalie Moore on 9 June, 8 July and 12 August 2021. The series explores the intersections of race and economic development, including Black ownership, business, self-reliance, determination and mutual aid.


  9. The Economics of Black Chicago

    Rick Lowe and John W. Rogers Jr. take part in a virtual conversation about Black wealth-building in Chicago, focusing on the challenges, gains and opportunities affecting Black businesses, entrepreneurs and residents. The event is presented in conjunction with Toward Common Cause and the Black Wall Street Journey project.


  10. Team first visits Michigan


  11. Toward Social Change lecture

    Toward Social Change: Building a Reciprocal Relationship between Social Science and the Arts is the Taubman Lecture at the University of Michigan and features curator Abigail Winograd, ISR Director Kathleen Cagney, artist Tonika Johnson and sociologist Maria Krysan.


  12. Teaching Commences at U-M

    Over two semesters, Christian Davenport, Rick Lowe and Abigail Winograd teach U-M students via their De/Re-Imagining Black Progress course.


  13. Art Des 203

    Nicole Marroquin begins teaching Art Des 203 with a focus on Black Wall Street Journey.


  14. UMMA exhibition

    Lowe examines the forces that shape Black wealth and opportunity, including income and education to housing and business ownership. More than twenty new works by Lowe converge civic research and civic imagination. By showcasing these local and national trends, Black Wall Street Journey aims to become a campus-wide platform for assessing, understanding, and influencing the trajectory of Black well-being. A central element of this installation is the Black Wall Street Journey Ticker, installed on UMMA’s rooftop and in ISR’s Atrium on U-M’s Central Campus.