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In 1927, 25-year old Charles Lindbergh rose to international fame after successfully flying from New York to Paris in the world's first nonstop transatlantic flight. Following his return to the U.S., Lindbergh became a sensation, receiving a ticker tape parade and a ceremony from the governor of New York that was witnessed by about four million people. Lindbergh is still the youngest Time Man of the Year following his appearance on the cover in 1928. The plane Lindbergh used, the Spirit of St. Louis, became famous in its own right, appearing on a USPS stamp and as a toy produced by Hubley. The Lindbergh flight is credited with jumpstarting public interest in aviation, with 1930's Aviator of the Year, Elinor Smith Sullivan, remarking, "The twenties was such an innocent time...I think they felt like this man was sent by God to do this. And it changed aviation forever because all of a sudden the Wall Streeters were banging on doors looking for airplanes to invest in."

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In a promotion for the Chicago-based radio station Q-101, listeners were encouraged to switch to the new radio station. Beginning as rock station WKQX in 1977, it would be rebranded as “Q-101” in the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s, it became a top station for Adult Contemporary and hosted Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s program Sexually Speaking. In 1988, the station was purchased by Emmis Communications and would continue to air the adult top 40 format until the early 1990s. On July 14th, 1992, the station began playing an alternative rock format and became “Chicago’s New Rock Alternative.” As an alternative rock station, Q-101 hosted music festivals and promoted local artists. In 2011, WKQX was sold, and the format switched over to news; Q-101 moved to stream online as an internet-only station. The final on-air show ended at 1:01 a.m., July 15th with the song “Tonight, Tonight” by Chicago-based The Smashing Pumpkins.

In 2014, after failed news ratings, the station on 101.1 began broadcasting alternative hits again under new ownership, Cumulus Radio Group. Although the station tried to capture the alternative music fanbase of Q101, the Q101 signature programs and radio personalities did not return. As station ratings fluctuated, some former Q101 content creators and personalities joined the new company, but the Cumulus format still remains with more broad definitions of alternative including lighter fare, such as Coldplay, gracing the airwaves.

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WMET were once the call letters for the current Chicago radio station WEBG. The station began in 1959 and went through various formats such as adult contemporary and Top 40 until 1979 when it switched to an album oriented rock format and adopted slogans such as, “the mighty MET,” “Chicago’s classic rock,” and “95 and a half, Pure Rock.” In 1985, the music was interrupted every 30 minutes with a voice of a man saying “enough is enough.” Listeners flooded the station’s receptionists with calls about the interruptions only to be told the engineers were looking into it. The publicity stunt was conducted by the station to gain interest in its move to the adult contemporary format. On January 11, 1985, the station no longer played rock and roll. Since then the station has changed owners and format multiple times including jazz and Spanish-language. Since 2015, it has been rebranded Big 95.5 playing a country music format.

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The Chicago Herald American was an afternoon newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois between 1939 and 1953. Newspaper magnate William Randolf Hearst consolidated the Chicago American and the Herald Examiner after the Great Depression affected sales of both newspapers. The Chicago Herald American was known for its competitive reporting as afternoon newspapers were reliant on breaking news to sell the papers on the street. In 1953, the paper was renamed Chicago American after its sale to the Chicago Tribune, and was later absorbed into the Chicago Tribune in 1974. Post World War II, future president John F. Kennedy covered the 1945 United Nations conference in San Francisco as a reporter for the Chicago Herald American.

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The Lions Club of Blue Island held an annual parade on the 4th of July. The Lions sold buttons along the parade route to raise funds to continue to put on the 4th of July parades and festivities. The 1979 parade was celebrating the centennial of the Blue Island Fire Department.

The Lion's Club is a secular service club organization, founded in Oak Brook, Illinois, which promotes volunteerism, community involvement, and environmental awareness, among other things. 

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The Lion’s Club is a secular organization dedicated to improving communities around the world. The Blue Island, IL chapter founded on December 18th, 1922, filled dual roles within the community as both a businessmen’s luncheon club and chamber of commerce. They were known for hosting an annual celebration event for the 4th of July. In 1983, to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the chapter, the theme of the event was “The Roaring 20s”, taking guests back in time to the decade when the chapter was founded. This theme encourages guests to don their most glamorous apparel, such as beaded flapper dresses, or tuxedos and top hats.

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The United Steel Workers are a union formed to bargain agreements for steel workers. Their agreements set the pattern for hundreds of thousands of workers in dozens of industries for (re)negotiationg contracts or benefits and providing standards in work areas. They also secure equal treatment on the job and provide an established procedure for resolving differences with supervisors and management — a grievance procedure that resolves disputes on their merits, not on favoritism. Unions are not standard policy for all companies and must be incorporated into some existing positions. Requesting potential members to, "vote yes," means that the employees will elect to have the union at their profession and pay the dues toward that union so that the union will work as a mediator between the employee and the employer to take care of group benefits.

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The Farm Equipment & Metal Workers union was started in 1938 at the International Harvester plant in Chicago, Illinois. It gained traction in other factories within the company over other worker’s unions, such as United Auto Workers, due to the FE & MW union prioritizing recruitment of African-American workers and implementing anti-discrimination policies. The union had African-American leadership within the organization, which was rare during that time. The union is said to have had roots in the Communist Party, but the extent of the ties may have been exaggerated by the company who was firmly anti-union. The union made significant progress towards worker rights through the use of work stoppage strikes. When World War II started, the union supported the wartime “no strike pledge,” but did decide to strike and those actions enabled the union to raise worker wages by 80%.

In 1947, the FE union had their most successful worker rights movement at an International Harvester plant in Louisville, Kentucky. The union was able to unite black and white workers, uncommon at the time in Kentucky. Through the use of work stoppages, any time company management breached their contract, the union got results and was seen as superior for worker rights to UAW. 

The beginning of the end for FE was the passing of the Taft-Hartley Act, which limited the activities and power of labor unions. In 1952, International Harvester requested work speedups, pay cuts, and more leverage over workers. In response, 30,000 FE members went on strike. The strike lagged and the union ran out of money. Many workers crossed the picket line and one was found murdered. Though later acquitted, a local union leader was arrested and tried for the murder, which resulted in a negative opinion of FE in the media and public. FE gave up on the strike after 87 days and signed a company favorable deal. That same year, the House Un-American Activities Committee brought in several FE leaders to testify further alienating the group. FE continued to lose members in the 50s and eventually merged with UAW in 1955.

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The United Steelworkers is a general trade union founded in 1942. It has come to represent workers in different industries including metal, paper, chemicals, glass, rubber, heavy-duty conveyor belting, tired, transportation, and utility industries in the U.S. and around the world. The organization started as the Steelworkers’ Organizing Committee SWOC) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in June 17, 1936 in an effort to organize steel makers, who had been mostly nonunion since the Homestead Lockout of 1892. SWOC had its first win against U.S. Steel, who had set up company unions during the Great Depression created and controlled by management in order to keep independent companies out of the company. SWOC convinced many U.S. Steel workers to support independent unions leading to talks with U.S. Steel chairman Myron Taylor that resulted in a contract between the SWOC and U.S. Steel. The SWOC was later renamed to the United Steel Workers of America in 1942, gaining strong membership during WWII in part due to decisions not to strike in exchange for government mandates to employers that spurred organizing. The USWA fought the steelworking industry over wages, benefits and working condition in the postwar era, and led five nationwide strikes between 1946 and 1959, resulting in negotiated pensions for workers. By 1960, steelworkers were among the best paid manufacturing workers in America. The cost of these victories contributed to the collapse of the American steel industry, leading to layoffs and devastating USWA membership. The USWA brought in other industries to its jurisdiction, such as mill workers, stone workers, rubber and plastic workers, aluminum, brick and glass workers. The USWA has grown to become the U.S.'s largest industrial union, coming to represent 1.2 million workers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. It also has an international presence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico and other places around the world, representing workers in nearly every industry there is.

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The Chicago Truck Drivers Union was unique for maintaining its independence from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for the entire twentieth century. In the early 1980s the Union was at its peak in terms of membership, representing more than 12,000 members. This membership dwindled by the end of the 1900s however, and the CTDU merged with Teamsters Local 710 in 2000.