Chicago History MuseumLincoln Park / Old Town

Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s–70s

Now showingUntil 31 January 2027$24

More than 100 posters, fliers, signs, buttons and magazines from Chicago activists of the 1960s and '70s, shown with work by a new generation of artivists carrying the legacy forward.

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On now All of November 2026

Find the orange and purple poster that reads "Sisterhood Is Blooming." Like every Chicago Women's Graphic Collective print, it carries no artist's name, only a "CWGC" stamp, and the posters on the next wall follow the same rules: big sizes, bright colours, slogans that stick.

More than 100 posters, fliers, buttons, newspapers and books fill six sections on the second floor: the Chicago Freedom Movement's fight for fair housing, Black Power, anti-Vietnam War protests, women's liberation, gay liberation, and eight of today's Chicago artivists. Listening stations play interviews with artists and activists of the era, among them Barbara Jones-Hogu of AfriCOBRA, a group whose "Bad" was 1968 slang for cool. You finish at a fiber-art installation you can weave your own idea into.

No critic has reviewed it. Lights are kept low, and fragile pieces rotate out for similar items or reproductions. Entry is included with museum admission ($24 for adults, free for children 12 and under and Illinois residents 18 and under). It closes January 31, 2027.

Editor's pick

Look for "Sisterhood Is Blooming", an orange and purple poster stamped only CWGC, for the Chicago Women's Graphic Collective. More than 100 posters, buttons and fliers cover fair housing, Black Power, the anti-war movement, and women's and gay liberation.

Look for

The Chicago Freedom Movement logo
Look for the circled "V" designed by Ann Gillie and Bennie Luchion on buttons, album covers, arm bands and banners; some read it as victory over slums, others as a peace sign.
The Wall of Respect
The stop on the two-storey mural of Black heroes, with Muddy Waters strumming his guitar in Rhythm & Blues and Gwendolyn Brooks at the centre of Literature, in a section walled in red, black and green.
Mario Castillo's Peace mural
A photograph of the whole Pilsen mural and close-ups of its symbols: an explosion that is also an eye, a red peace sign, playing cards for a war both sides would lose, and hippie paisley.
"Sisterhood Is Blooming"
Estelle Carol and the Chicago Women's Graphic Collective's orange and purple screen print, unsigned like every CWGC poster, with more of the collective's posters on the next wall.
Gary Chichester's Army shirt
A US Army shirt to which activist Gary Chichester added a Gay Liberation symbol, surrounded by buttons and banners carrying the movement's male and female symbols.

Good for

Going Solo
Nerding Out
Teenagers

Skip if

You want only originals: fragile pieces rotate out for similar items or reproductions.

With kids

The Museum pitches its learning guide at grades 7 to 12. Pick up the Artivism booklet (English or Spanish) at the entrance: six look-closely stops, ending at a fiber-art wall kids can weave into.