You may have seen these beautiful benches around campus recently, located near Perlstein Fountain and between Crown Hall and Tech North. It may appear that they just materialized out of thin air, but in reality they were a group effort between multiple communities.
These commemorative benches, honoring subjects including Jack Johnson, Timuel Black, and Gwendolyn Brooks, were proposed, designed, and built by the Office of Community Affairs, Dunbar School students, campus materials shop, muralists, campus facilities, and the Alphawood Arboretum Advisory Board.
In spring 2025, Felena Bunn (program specialist for Office of Community Affairs and Outreach Programs), Alicia Bunton (Assistant Vice President, Community Affairs), and Joseph Gawle (Grounds Worker II – Arborist) met to discuss a collaboration between Community Affairs and the Illinois Institute of Technology arboretum.
“In the absence of large brick walls, I thought about what could serve as a mural surface and park benches came to mind,” says Bunton. “The benches served two practical needs, surfaces for the students to paint and seating for visitors to the Budburst citizen science research garden in partnership with the Chicago Botanic Garden at 33rd and Michigan Avenue. The garden is colloquially known as the Nate Thomas Memorial Meadow. [Bunn], the Community Affairs Program Specialist, activates the space for senior citizens and children who need to sit down. Little did I know that Joe wanted to create seating for the arboretum.”
The shape of the benches, mimicking a church pew, was developed by Gawle. “They are high enough for people with and without physical limitations to successfully use,” says Bunton. “They are also the proper height for kids to navigate and avoid bodily harm should they fall off the bench.”
The project also was used as an educational opportunity, allowing students from the surrounding neighborhoods to learn about fine arts as a career. “The Office of Community Affairs is responsible for the Bronzeville Opportunity Engine, (BOE) an initiative of the President’s Office,” says Bunton. “The BOE has three principal areas of focus, lifelong education, entrepreneurship, and precollegiate programming.” The One Summer Chicago Painting Pre-Apprenticeship program is a pre-college that offers young people who are interested in the painting trade to receive instruction from industry experts from Little Giant Ladder, Home Depot, Behr Paint, Continental Paint, and others. Summer 2026 will be the third year of the program.
“Muralist instructor Rahmaan “Statik” [Barnes] worked closely with the students during the summer to identify Bronzeville luminaries whose lives and work are deeply rooted in the community, with several holding direct ties to the Illinois Tech campus,” says Bunn. “The selected figures reflect these connections, from Ida B. Wells’ Alpha Suffrage Club, to Jack Johnson’s Bronzeville nightclub, Gwendolyn Brooks’ association with the historic Mecca Flats, Eve Ewing’s scholarship and book Ghosts in the Schoolyard, and the work of Timuel Black and Shermann “Dilla” Thomas as historians and chroniclers of Bronzeville’s past and present.”
The materials used for the benches were provided by a local hardware store and the College of Architecture’s materials shop. BOE funds paid for the wood and supplies needed.
“The completed murals and benches were unveiled on October 28, 2025, during a private ceremony on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus,” says Bunn. “The unveiling was attended by Nora Brooks Blakely – daughter of Gwendolyn Brooks, Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, and muralist [Barnes]. Remarks on behalf of the university were shared by professor Ron Henderson of Landscape Architecture.”
There are future plans in spring 2026 to add signs to the benches to spotlight all involved individuals and departments. As for the benches, more may be in the works as well. Bunton mentioned that the original plan was to have interchangeable backs for the benches to keep the murals fresh, but the overall time it took to create the first set outweighed the overall time for the project. “We’re all hopeful that more can be built this year to further progress the goals of highlighting the incredible history of our community and the people living here, and creating an inviting shared community space to congregate and appreciate nature on campus,” says Gawle.
“The benches truly reflect internal and external cross-discipline professional partnerships and collaboration as well as commitment to a mutual vision,” says Bunton. “ That vision includes dismantling the visible and invisible walls that separate and create “otherness” between the Bronzeville community and the university. The goal is always to be one with the community and not just in the community.”