moss green

A phrase used by Japanese and Japanese Americans in response to their mass force removal and incarceration of approximately 120,000 from the west coast and southern part of Arizona into American Concentration camps during WWII.

There were approximately 300-400 Japanese and Japanese Americans living in Chicago in the early 1940's. Chicago was known as a "welcoming city" so with the initial help of religious, social and civil organizations helping internees to relocate to Chicago, the population of Japanese and Japanese American grew to approximately 20,000 by the late 1940's.

olive drab

Quote from Nikos Kazantzakis, a well known Greek writer.

Φτάσε όπου δεν μπορείς

pewter

The phrase is from one of the thousands of folk verses or "dainas" used to describe Latvian values and all aspects of everyday life.

Dziedot dzimu, dziedot augu, Dziedot mūžu nodzīvoju

The national motto of Luxembourg is a sentiment still held by many in the country today and was something immigrants to USA brought with them.

desert tan

The quote "ne mutlu...." is an expression from Ataturk, that many Turks repeated as it is connected to their pride in nationality and what it meant to be a 'modern' Turk.

The first line of the quote comes from Özcan Bulut, who immigrated from Istanbul to Chicago in 1955. Bulut graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he met some lifelong Turkish friends. The second line of the quote comes from M. Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Türkiye. 

Chicago’da bir Türk ailesi kurduk. Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyene.

clear

A quote from Lorraine Hansberry, "Young, Gifted and Black".

Permission to use copyrighted material granted by Joi Gresham, Literary Trustee, Lorraine Hansberry Properties Trust

Our Southside is a place apart: each piece of our living a protest