Anderson Cobb explores race, place, and history in performance at Allerton

Updated October 11:

“Unsettled: An African American Reflection on The Potawatomi Trail of Death,” an interactive performance co-presented by Nicole Anderson Cobb (MS ’16, journalism) in April 2023 at Allerton Park, was featured in The Christian Science Monitor.

The article, “Indigenous People’s Day: What the Potawatomi Taught Me,” explores Anderson Cobb’s collaborative presentation with Latrelle Bright, who teaches theater at Illinois, and its benefits on the writer’s journey to greater awareness of Indigenous history.

3/27/2023

Nicole Anderson Cobb (MS '16, journalism) will co-present an interactive experience titled “unsettled: An African American Reflection on the Potawatomi Trail of Death,” to a sold-out audience on April 15 at the Allerton Park & Retreat Center in Monticello. 

Theatre makers Nicole Anderson Cobb and Latrelle Bright (pictured below) are both artists-in-residence at Allerton Park and have worked together on a project called “Beyond Land Acknowledgement.” Their performance, which recalls the Potawatomi journey through Danville and Monticello where the Potawatomi camped for several days, invites the community to reflect on the Potawatomi removal.

Anderson Cobb, an author, historian, and playwright, is also a researcher and advocate who examines American institutions (often in crisis), and how people of color have navigated these spaces in the past and present. She holds multiple degrees from the University of Illinois: BA '95, political science; MA '99, history; and PhD '07, history. 

For more information about her work, go here.