Events › Harsh Readers Circle : Forced Into Glory Abraham Lincoln's White Dream

In the first half of the 20th century, Vivian Harsh created the Book Review and Lecture Forum. As Countee Cullen wrote in 1941, it: "aim[ed] to enrich the leisure time of confirmed readers while at the same time it bring[ing] to the library others who may not be familiar with all its services. It [sought] to draw attention to books and authors which might not otherwise be discovered by every reader."

The Harsh Readers Circle (HRC) is inspired by this example, meeting the third Saturday of every month—except December—in the Vivian Harsh Collection's conference room located inside the Woodson Regional Library at 9525 S. Halsted Street at 2 p.m. A staple program, the Circle is a book club devoted to reading and discussing Black literature—fiction and non-fiction.

The Circle is fully hybrid through Zoom. Please register for the Zoom meetings if you’d like to join the discussion remotely. 

HRC begins 2026 with Lerone Bennett, Jr.'s Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream in January. 

Accessibility
Need sign language interpretation or other accessibility assistance for this event? Please call (312) 747-8184 or email access@chipublib.org to request accommodations. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event.