Tennille Nicole Allen
@tennillenallen.blacksky.app
West Side Chicagoan by birth. Sociology professor by training. Black feminist by Audre, bell, and Patricia. I study Black people doing Black things in Black places.
Reposted by Tennille Nicole Allen
Elizabeth Catlett & Alberto Beltrán, Untitled (Composition for a Peace Poster), c. 1950 www.artic.edu/artworks/222...
January 3, 2026 at 10:11 AM
Elizabeth Catlett & Alberto Beltrán, Untitled (Composition for a Peace Poster), c. 1950 www.artic.edu/artworks/222...
Having teachers through eighth grade note their intelligence, pleasantness in class, and absolute inability to stop getting in trouble for talking too much.
How else can professors prove "merit" besides SAT scores? Wrong answers only. I'll go first: ability to do sixth-grade geometry homework (two professors in my house fail)
January 2, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Having teachers through eighth grade note their intelligence, pleasantness in class, and absolute inability to stop getting in trouble for talking too much.
Anyone else having flashbacks to Dorothy Zbornak’s ill-fated birthday visit to Mr. Ha Ha’s Hot Dog Hacienda?
December 31, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Anyone else having flashbacks to Dorothy Zbornak’s ill-fated birthday visit to Mr. Ha Ha’s Hot Dog Hacienda?
The first time I went into a prison for research, as we were being taken inside, the state police located next door started doing very loud target practice. Not knowing that fact, we thought we were walking into a prison break. Side note: the series Prison Break was filmed just a few miles away.
Yall ever been somewhere and they started shooting??…. I’ll never forget one time in college someone started shooting…. You would’ve swore I was Usain Bolt running away
December 30, 2025 at 1:15 AM
The first time I went into a prison for research, as we were being taken inside, the state police located next door started doing very loud target practice. Not knowing that fact, we thought we were walking into a prison break. Side note: the series Prison Break was filmed just a few miles away.
My job as a parent is done. The 16 year old just came home, not only playing The Gap Band’s “Outstanding”but singing the hell out of it. Charlie Wilson would be proud.
a man wearing sunglasses and a colorful jacket is standing in front of an airplane
Alt: Charlie Wilson, singing in a pair of sunglasses and a colorful jacket and standing in front of an airplane.
media.tenor.com
December 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM
My job as a parent is done. The 16 year old just came home, not only playing The Gap Band’s “Outstanding”but singing the hell out of it. Charlie Wilson would be proud.
First, the protest a couple blocks away, then the sound of whistles and now multiple helicopters flying over head. ICE is definitely back in town.
December 18, 2025 at 12:23 AM
First, the protest a couple blocks away, then the sound of whistles and now multiple helicopters flying over head. ICE is definitely back in town.
The number of times I’ve invoked the memory of the first “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong” skit while in meetings. I also fantasize about my last day of work looking something like this.
December 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The number of times I’ve invoked the memory of the first “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong” skit while in meetings. I also fantasize about my last day of work looking something like this.
Grading on a snowy December day in suburban Chicago and Gil Scott Heron's "Winter in America" just started playing. Listening to him describe being "taken over by the season of ice/ICE" almost seems too on the nose. Now if I was grading assignments for my class on Octavia Butler's Parables series...
December 10, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Grading on a snowy December day in suburban Chicago and Gil Scott Heron's "Winter in America" just started playing. Listening to him describe being "taken over by the season of ice/ICE" almost seems too on the nose. Now if I was grading assignments for my class on Octavia Butler's Parables series...
Sing a song…
Full of the faith the dark past has taught us…
Sing a song…
December 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Sing a song…
I feel an overwhelming need to deep clean my kitchen. That can mean only one thing—it’s time to sit down and tackle the mound of grading, reviews, letters of recommendation, and writing that must be done within the next two weeks.
December 5, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I feel an overwhelming need to deep clean my kitchen. That can mean only one thing—it’s time to sit down and tackle the mound of grading, reviews, letters of recommendation, and writing that must be done within the next two weeks.
This is pretty close to what driving at night through Chicago has started to feel like for me (thus my not doing it any more).
December 4, 2025 at 2:16 AM
This is pretty close to what driving at night through Chicago has started to feel like for me (thus my not doing it any more).
The irony of Kool Moe Dee on Rock the Bells radio.
Sorry I’m late for the meeting but i had to take an urgent call:
The urgent call:
The urgent call:
November 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
The irony of Kool Moe Dee on Rock the Bells radio.
Reposted by Tennille Nicole Allen
Chicago has had one 9/11 worth of people disappeared since the attacks began in September. Los Angeles has had two 9/11s since June.
November 18, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Chicago has had one 9/11 worth of people disappeared since the attacks began in September. Los Angeles has had two 9/11s since June.
The viewer in me has enjoyed All Her Fault but now the Black Chicagoan in me is giving major side eye to a white character not only being from South Shore but having his white foster mom describe the whole neighborhood as being destroyed by OxyContin. South Shore deserves better than this depiction.
November 18, 2025 at 12:20 AM
The viewer in me has enjoyed All Her Fault but now the Black Chicagoan in me is giving major side eye to a white character not only being from South Shore but having his white foster mom describe the whole neighborhood as being destroyed by OxyContin. South Shore deserves better than this depiction.
When it comes to innovating structural racism
November 14, 2025 at 2:19 AM
When it comes to innovating structural racism
In giving a student feedback on an assignment, I typed government “shitdown” and now I’m very reluctant to correct my spelling. It’s so apt as the government is ensuring all this shit rains down on us while destroying the few umbrellas we had.
November 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM
In giving a student feedback on an assignment, I typed government “shitdown” and now I’m very reluctant to correct my spelling. It’s so apt as the government is ensuring all this shit rains down on us while destroying the few umbrellas we had.
Thanks to the student who shared on our discussion board that Nat King Cole’s “‘Tis Autumn” is his favorite fall song. I’m listening now for the first time and ‘tis perfect. Found my grading soundtrack for today!
November 3, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Thanks to the student who shared on our discussion board that Nat King Cole’s “‘Tis Autumn” is his favorite fall song. I’m listening now for the first time and ‘tis perfect. Found my grading soundtrack for today!
Reposted by Tennille Nicole Allen
October 28, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Well, I know what I’ll now be using as an example of a racist policy that is racially neutral on its face (no pun intended).
October 28, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Well, I know what I’ll now be using as an example of a racist policy that is racially neutral on its face (no pun intended).
@authorwinifred.blacksky.app, my mom is on vacation with her cousins & they were talking about family history. She just texted to let us know they were talking about the midwives who delivered my grandmother and her sisters in rural Alabama. Of course, I thought about you carrying on this legacy.
October 21, 2025 at 11:27 PM
@authorwinifred.blacksky.app, my mom is on vacation with her cousins & they were talking about family history. She just texted to let us know they were talking about the midwives who delivered my grandmother and her sisters in rural Alabama. Of course, I thought about you carrying on this legacy.
Reposted by Tennille Nicole Allen
@tennillenallen.blacksky.app's project is so so cool and necessary; I'm so honored to get to help her bring it to light
check out this AMAZING primary source introduction and keep an eye out for further amazing developments!!
www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org/the-brown-book
check out this AMAZING primary source introduction and keep an eye out for further amazing developments!!
www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org/the-brown-book
The Brown Book — (BEYOND) THE CONFINES OF PLACE
www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org
October 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
@tennillenallen.blacksky.app's project is so so cool and necessary; I'm so honored to get to help her bring it to light
check out this AMAZING primary source introduction and keep an eye out for further amazing developments!!
www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org/the-brown-book
check out this AMAZING primary source introduction and keep an eye out for further amazing developments!!
www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org/the-brown-book
Today is the launch of my video series & website on “The Brown Book”, a guide to Black Joliet, Illinois in the late 50s. The streets that were once the heart of a bustling community are now home to the county jail and vacant lots. We document that here www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org/the-brown-book
The Brown Book — (BEYOND) THE CONFINES OF PLACE
www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org
October 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Today is the launch of my video series & website on “The Brown Book”, a guide to Black Joliet, Illinois in the late 50s. The streets that were once the heart of a bustling community are now home to the county jail and vacant lots. We document that here www.beyondtheconfinesofplace.org/the-brown-book
Once again, the limits of autocorrect reveal themselves. I’m a sociologist and am pretty certain that I meant to type data and not Sara in the text I just sent. This might be the first time I’ve ever actually typed that name on this phone so I have no idea what would have sparked that little moment.
October 10, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Once again, the limits of autocorrect reveal themselves. I’m a sociologist and am pretty certain that I meant to type data and not Sara in the text I just sent. This might be the first time I’ve ever actually typed that name on this phone so I have no idea what would have sparked that little moment.
If this older white woman in the nail salon is any indication, there is much anger and outrage at the ICE invasions in and around Chicago. She’s talking about what she sees as the role and responsibility of older people like herself.
October 8, 2025 at 6:50 PM
If this older white woman in the nail salon is any indication, there is much anger and outrage at the ICE invasions in and around Chicago. She’s talking about what she sees as the role and responsibility of older people like herself.
This explains why I started hearing so many low-flying helicopters as I was reading on my patio.
All eyes on Broadview, Illinois tonight.
Broadview is a suburb about 12 miles west of Chicago.
Our friends are reporting on the scene ⬇️
Broadview is a suburb about 12 miles west of Chicago.
Our friends are reporting on the scene ⬇️
Heard an officer say "let's do it" and then, in the dark, they tackle Rabbi Ben to the ground. He's being loaded into a CCSO wagon now. Broadview police also here screaming at people.
October 5, 2025 at 1:19 AM
This explains why I started hearing so many low-flying helicopters as I was reading on my patio.