Podcast

Legally Stolen Podcast

Legally Stolen is a 3-episode podcast produced by the National Public Housing Museum and Artist as Instigator Tonika Lewis Johnson as part of her project, Inequity for Sale, a virtual and physical exploration of homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in the 50s and 60s.


Watch the live stream above or join us in person!

Legally Stolen Live
Date: Thursday, April 28
Time: 7:00-8:30pm (90mins)
Location: Kennedy King College, 740 W 63rd 

Tickets: $20
Use code “Discount” for $15 tickets!

Masks required for all attendees.

Legally Stolen Live is a podcast event hosted by Tiff Beatty of the National Public Housing Museum and Social Justice Artist Tonika Lewis Johnson as part of her project, Inequity for Sale, a virtual and physical exploration of Englewood homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in the 50s and 60s. Featured guests discuss reparations and redress for legalized theft from Black people and communities impacted by predatory real estate practices and art as a catalyst for change. 

Tonika Lewis Johnson is a photographer, social justice artist and life-long resident of Greater Englewood. She is also co-founder of the Englewood Arts Collective and Resident Association of Greater Englewood. Her critically acclaimed Folded Map project visually investigates disparities among Chicago residents and brings them together for conversation. Most recently, Tonika was selected as the National Public Housing Museum’s 2021 Artist as Instigator. In that role, she created her newest project: Inequity for Sale, which highlights the living history of Greater Englewood homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in the 50s and 60s.

Tiff Beatty is a cultural organizer, arts administrator, performance poet, and host. She is the current program director of arts, culture, and public policy at National Public Housing Museum in Chicago. Tiff Beatty was a 2019-2021 Chicago United for Equity Fellow and Senior Fellow and received the additional distinction of the 2019 Field Leader Award from the Field Foundation of Illinois. 

Amber Hendley passionate researcher, educator and activist. She is the co-author of The Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago Report (2019). which quantified the amount legally, but unjustly, extracted from the African American community in Chicago through predatory residential contract selling during the Second Great Migration.

Robin Rue Simmons is the Founder and Executive Director of FirstRepair, a new not-for-profit organization that informs local reparations, nationally. She is the former 5th Ward Alderman for the City of Evanston, IL, where she led, in collaboration with others, the passage of the nation’s first municipal-funded reparations legislation.


Episode One is a deep dive into the history and research that sparked Tonika’s idea to create Inequity for Sale. Featured guests include lead researcher of the Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago report Amber Hendley, author of Family Properties Beryl Satter, author of The Color of Law Richard Rothstein, and housing activist Athena Williams.

Read the Transcript to Episode One Here


Episode Two takes listeners on a journey through present-day Greater Englewood, exploring how legalized theft in the past directly contributed to present inequity in Black communities. Featured guests include Alderman Stephanie Coleman of the 16th Ward, Englewood residents Lolita Hughes and Patricia Porter, author of Family Properties Beryl Satter, and author of The Color of Law Richard Rothstein.

Read the transcript for Episode Two here.


Episode Three focuses on Chicago’s fight for fair housing and racial justice, including redress for legalized theft from Black people and communities impacted by predatory real estate practices. Featured guests include lead researcher of the Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago report Amber Hendley, housing activist Athena Williams, author of Family Properties Beryl Satter, and author of The Color of Law Richard Rothstein.

Read the transcript for Episode Three here.


Legally Stolen is available on your favorite streaming platform, including Spotify, Apple PodcastsPocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Anchor, Breaker, and RadioPublic.