Chicago

Steele grew up in the city of Chicago, in the mid 1900s. Though Chicago did not have the Jim Crow laws that dominated the American South at the time, individual policies and personal attitudes still caused a great deal of segregation. When Steele was a kid, black families were only allowed to swim at the Chicagoland Park on Fridays. In the 1970s, a friend and colleague of Steele’s found that when he left the University of Chicago, where he was studying, and walked around the Hyde Park neighborhood, he was perceived as a threat. White people often clutched their bags or crossed to the other side of the street when they saw him. He would whistle out of nervousness, and noticed that people were not tense around him when he whistled classical music, which gives rise to the title Whistling Vivaldi.

The University of Michigan

Located...