1950s

Hundreds of black-and-white photographs, with reminiscing interviews by people (both ordinary and famous) who grew up in Chicago in the 1950s, including Governor Jim Thompson, Sheriff Richard Elrod, sportswriter Bill Gleason, film critic Norman Mark, columnist Georgie Anne Geyer, Hillary Rodham Clinton, broadcast journalist Joel Weisman, Mel Thillens Jr., Blackhawks announcer Harvey Wittenberg, Chicago Bears player Johnny Morris, pitchers Jim Brosnan and Billy Pierce, jazz artist Ramsey Lewis, radio personality Chuck Schaden, comedian Mort Sahl, and television personalities Hugh Downs, Mike Wallace, and Ray Rayner.

Mildred Johnson is orphaned when her parents are killed in a violent protest for voting rights in the South in the 1950s. Her aunt takes her to Chicago, where, years later the two join a campaign to elect the city's first black mayor. When Mildred falls for the head of a grassroots organization involved in a voter registration drive, she is taken down a path of self-discovery as she learns the truth about her and Aunt Rose's past.