A perpetual problem solver: Tonika Lewis Johnson combines creativity and critical thinking to disrupt segregation in Chicago

Tonika Lewis Johnson on Speaking of Phenomenal Podcast

As a teenager in the 90s, Tonika Lewis Johnson faced a 15-mile daily commute from her South Side home in Chicago to her high school in the North Side. By her senior year, she learned that the distance between those areas was more than geographical. Tonika had formed a diverse group of friends, with large economic and cultural differences. "It would be so great if they (the children from her school) could meet my friends that I grew up with on my block," she thought then. 

A photographer, the founder of the Englewood Arts Collective and the co-author of the recently-released book "Don't Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It," Tonika decided those experiences as a teenager should inform one clear, purposeful through-line in her work and life, which she shared with host Amy Boyle during the latest episode of the Speaking of Phenomenal podcast: "creating space and educational ways for people to disrupt, tackle, and learn about Chicago segregation and how it impacts all of our lives today and our personal relationships." 

While in high school, she learned - sometimes by hearing difficult comments - that people from predominantly white neighborhoods in Chicago perceived the area where she grew up as unsafe: a neighborhood you're not supposed to visit. 

That inquietude became the seed for the Folded Map Project, an idea she would develop 20 years later. She introduced people in Chicago whose addresses were identical except for the "North" and "South" portions. The daughter of a screenwriter and poet and an amateur photographer, Tonika photographed and recorded those interactions. Some were heartwarming, while others resembled reality TV, where people awkwardly get acquainted for the first time. But all of them helped unite people "across racial, economic and geographic lines," she told Amy. 

She began giving presentations on the project, where she would always ask people if they had been told not to visit Chicago's South Side. Once, 600 people raised their hands in unanimous agreement. Stricken by how segregation had perpetuated among that audience and beyond, Tonika went to social media and asked her followers to share their "don't go" stories. About 80 people wrote back. 30 of those stories became the book "Don't Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It." 

"It was really important for me to create another tool for people to use, not only to learn but also to think of solutions," she told Amy. "It's knowledge and education that will get us to the world that we want to have."

More recently, Tonika held a solo photography exhibit in New York as a fellow at a gallery named after Gordon Parks, one of her idols and the creator of the first Black film made by a major production company. After years of working to disrupt segregation in Chicago, that fellowship reminded her of how photography can serve as a "platform to create change and help people see things differently."

Besides the Folded Map Project, which eventually became a nonprofit, Tonika created a Folded Map Action Kit to guide people interested in visiting and understanding segregated neighborhoods (experiences include running errands and visiting cultural attractions). But as concrete as her work has become, Tonika also believes there is "power in reflection." 

"It doesn't necessarily take a massive movement...It's the small things that people do in their own lives that they expose their children to, that they help younger people learn, that really will propel the change that we want to have."

Tonika’s work as a social justice artist proves that personal reflection, critical thinking and dialogue can and should inform tangible actions. Recently, she has been busy promoting public engagement through the arts collective she co-founded. 

“I'm really excited and looking forward to us creating space for Greater Englewood to be an arts and culture hub,” she told Amy. “We have a lot of irons in the fire now.” 

Reach out to Tonika here to learn more about disrupting segregation or get inspiration for your own projects!

Carolina Baldin is a freelance journalist from Brazil. Having worked in law, policy and regulation, she is passionate about everyday stories that illustrate larger issues. She graduated from a master's program at Northwestern University in 2023 and became a guest blogger on the "Speaking of Phenomenal" podcast blog in March 2024.