Chicago in the Year 2000

How We Worked

"Chicago was still the city of broad shoulders, a place where men worked with their hands, and a place where the blues had some meaning." 
                                                                                                                                          – Jonathan Eig

The diversified economy of Chicago prevented it from falling victim to issues that deeply impacted other Rust Belt cities. As poet Carl Sandburg famously put it in 1914, its title as “Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler" had evolved. Chicagoans worked and scraped to survive, finding new ways to utilize their skills. As the zenith of the dot-com boom, the availability of venture capital and the rise of the internet in 2000 led to many new companies, most of which were adversely affected when its bubble later burst. CITY2000 captured these new businesses and ones that have always been part of the fabric of Chicago. It chronicled the beauty in Chicagoan labor, reshaping everyday moments into captivating ones.  

As a union city, many photographers followed strikes and protests. The Work-Ship Coalition, Janitorial Agencies, SAG, and AFTRA all withheld their labor to improve their workplaces in 2000. Chicago has always been a city that worked, whether it be towards a job or towards change. And the range of professions and abilities of Chicagoans explains how it became the city it is today.  

The CITY2000 photographers recorded workers of many professions: shoemakers, seamstresses, hair stylists, grocers, and newspaper salesmen are all included. They went up on a construction crane high above Streeterville, to the Chicago Skyway toll booth, to the IBM building, and visited the Chicago Board of Trade. They strolled into local bars, bought food at street markets, and followed around factory foremen to understand how we worked.  

Scroll down to see a selection of photographs that explore "How We Worked." 

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