Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum names Erin Amico as first African American CEO in its history

The Board of Trustees of the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum today announced that they have elected, by unanimous vote, Erin Amico as President & CEO of Chicago’s oldest museum and foremost scientific institution, beginning July 18, 2022.

A Chicago native, Amico will be the first African American CEO to lead the 165-year-old institution. Amico succeeds Deborah Lahey who announced in September that she would be retiring at the end of June 2022, after 12 years as President & CEO.

An eight-member Search Committee, led by Trustees David Hackett and Susan D. Whiting, conducted a rigorous nine-month search in partnership with Koya Partners.

Amico will join the Nature Museum from P33, a nonprofit driving inclusive growth for Chicago’s tech sector, where she serves as Chief Marketing Officer. At P33, Amico partners with corporate, civic, and academic leaders across Chicagoland to direct the strategy and positioning of Chicago’s tech brand in partnership with World Business Chicago. She has been responsible for reaching over 1 million tech professionals nationwide through transformational digital efforts.

Nature Museum Board Chair, David Hackett said, “We are thrilled to announce Erin as our next President & CEO. A visionary, innovative and inspiring leader, Erin will bring the expertise and passion to steer this beloved and historical institution into the future. Her experience in Chicago’s civic, business, and nonprofit spaces, as well as her enthusiasm for nature and the natural sciences, make her uniquely qualified to lead the Nature Museum. We are excited to have Erin build on the institution’s strong foundation and guide us into this next chapter.”

Amico has a strong background in innovative marketing, strategic planning, and fundraising. With over two decades of experience, Amico has generated awareness and revenue for some of the world’s most iconic brands. Her involvement in building purpose-driven brands, cultivating talent, and inspiring partnerships has helped transform Chicago’s tech sector. Her unique combination of experiences and commitment to the mission will enable her to lead the Nature Museum into the future, while honoring its heritage and legacy.

Penny Pritzker, Co-Founder of P33 and Founder & Chairman of PSP Partners noted, “A key focus of P33 is creating pathways to tech-based opportunities, such as STEM education. The Nature Museum does more hours of hands-on science teaching, primarily in underserved areas, than any other museum in Chicago. I am thrilled Erin will continue this important effort so that Chicago’s future scientists are reflective of all our citizens.”

“I am humbled and honored to join the Nature Museum team. I am a life-long learner from a family of scientists who instilled in me a deep value of education, curiosity, and compassion. Nature is a powerful source of inspiration, knowledge, and connection. I am grateful for the opportunity to build on the Nature Museum’s incredible legacy and grow new connections between this important institution and our community,” said Amico.

Amico graduated from Latin School of Chicago and Middlebury College. She also earned Master of Business Administration degrees from both Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in marketing and the University of Cambridge Judge Business School in entrepreneurship.

She currently serves on the Midwest Board of UNICEF and The French American Chamber of Commerce Foundation Board, and she is a mentor to mHUB’s Climate and Energy Tech teams.<

WATCH the emotional first Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer

Check out the emotional first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which wil be released 11/11/2022.

Henry Louis Gates Jr and Oxford to publish African American Dictionary

The Oxford University Press has planned to publish in 2025 a dictionary that will reflect the history, significance and meaning of African-American language.

The Oxford Dictionary of African American English, a new glossary of language that will contain popular phrases used by historical Black figures and modern-day Black Americans.

Historian, Henry Louis Gates Jr is the editor-in-chief of the proposed dictionary which will be produced from a three-year research project by Oxford English Dictionary and Havard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research.

According to Gates on the project, “Every speaker of American English borrows heavily from words invented by African-Americans, whether they know it or not,” Gates said.

The project was a joint venture of the Oxford University Press and the Hutchins Center. Gates Jr. said that the idea for the new dictionary came about when the Oxford Press asked him to collaborate on their existing dictionaries, leading him to propose a more ambitious project.

Funded by grants from the Mellon and Wagner Foundations, the dictionary stems from a three-year research project led by a diverse team of researchers and lexicographers whose focus is to preserve the vocabulary of African-Americans. The new dictionary, which Gates said is heavily influenced by “words invented by African Americans,” will serve as an authoritative record of African-American English.

The first copy of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English is expected to be released in 2025.

Emmett Till’s House among African American Historical Sites to Get Landmarks Funds

Emmett Till left his mother’s house on Chicago’s South Side in 1955 to visit relatives in Mississippi, where the Black teenager was abducted and brutally slain for reportedly whistling at a white woman.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a cultural preservation organization announced Tuesday that the house will receive a share of $3 million in grants being distributed to 33 sites and organizations nationwide that are important pieces of African American history.

Till’s brutal slaying helped galvanize the civil rights movement. The Chicago home where Mamie Till Mobley and her son lived will receive funding for a project director to oversee restoration efforts, including renovating the second floor to what it looked like when the Tills lived there.

“This house is a sacred treasure from our perspective and our goal is to restore it and reinvent it as an international heritage pilgrimage destination,” said Naomi Davis, executive director of Blacks in Green, a local nonprofit group that bought the house in 2020. She said the plan is to time the 2025 opening with that of the Obama Presidential Library a few miles away.

Leggs said it is particularly important to do something that shines a light on Mamie Till Mobley. After her 14-year-old son’s lynching, Till Mobley insisted that his body be displayed in an open casket as it looked when it was pulled from a river, to show the world what racism looked like.

The house and the story of the casket highlight the risks that the remnants of such history can vanish if not protected. As recently as 2019 when it was sold to a developer, the red brick Victorian house built more than a century earlier was falling into disrepair before it was granted landmark status by the city of Chicago. And the glass-topped casket that held Till’s remains was only donated to the Smithsonian Institution because it was discovered in 2009 rusting in a shed at a suburban Chicago cemetery where it was discarded after the teen’s body was exhumed years earlier.

That discovery of the casket, which only happened because of a scandal at the cemetery, underscores how easily significant pieces of history can simply vanish, said Annie Wright, whose late husband, Simeon, was sleeping with his cousin, Emmett, the night he was abducted.

“We got to remember what happened and if we don’t tell it, if people don’t see (the house) they’ll forget and we don’t want to forget tragedy in these United States,” said Wright, 76.

[SOURCE: WTTW]

NAACP awards U.S. House Rep. Jim Clyburn its Spingarn Medal

The NAACP awarded U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn its Spingarn Medal to cap off its 113th annual national convention Wednesday night.

The medal is awarded annually to living African Americans who have realized the highest or noblest achievements in their field.

Clyburn received the award as recognition of his advocacy for voting rights and work to protect democracy — efforts that have been critical over the past year, according to the NAACP news release.

“I am pleased beyond measure and humbled to receive the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor,” Clyburn, D-S.C., said in an NAACP news release issued before the ceremony. “The history of this award speaks to the work done for over a century to ensure the American dream is made accessible and affordable for all her citizens.”

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson praised the South Carolina congressman for his work to advance equality.

"Whip Clyburn’s contribution to civil rights is extraordinary," Johnson said in the release. “From championing rural and economic development to advocating for the restoration of historic buildings and sites on the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities, Whip Clyburn has been at the forefront of advocating for Black communities and helping to create a more equitable society for decades."

[SOURCE: PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY]