The Brief
- A new exhibition in Pilsen documents how Mexican and Mexican American workers helped build Chicago’s rail system and lived in boxcar communities.
- The show traces more than a century of labor history using maps, photos, tools and family records.
- “Rieles y Raíces” runs through April at the National Museum of Mexican Art with free admission.
CHICAGO – Chicago has long been called the railroad capital of the country. Tracks still run through neighborhoods on the South and West sides. Freight trains still cut through the city day and night.
What many people do not know is who lived alongside those tracks and, in some cases, inside them.
What we know:…