Chicago native Arionne Nettles pens a love letter to Chicago in her new book titled, “We Are the Culture: Black Chicago’s Influence on Everything.”

In the book, she couples her family’s experience with the city’s history, celebrating the facets she feels often go unrecognized.

“This book is the story of just some of those magic-makers — some we talk about, but many don’t,” Nettles writes in the book. “It’s a celebration of their greatness and what they achieved, because when we look back on their collective contributions, we see that one thing is clear: Black Chicago contributed to everything.”

When asked why she chose the topic, Nettles said she wanted to write something that paid homage to the city that raised her. 

“Being a Chicagoan and loving this place so much, I recognized that especially here in Chicago, how we are viewed sometimes by the rest of the country and the world, it’s not as influential as we really are,” Nettles said. “Then, being a Black Chicagoan, I wanted to make sure that I brought that home and I brought in a lot of the culture that I grew up in.”

The book will be released on April 16.

The book also features songs to accompany certain sections or chapters. Nettles curated the full playlist below. 

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Angel Idowu is the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation Arts Correspondent.