Today, we’re pleased to publish an excerpt from Mary Ann Cain’s new book South Side Venus: The Legacy of Margaret Burroughs. Its publisher, Northwestern University Press, gives readers a sense of what to expect: “The extraordinarily productive life of curator, artist, and activist Margaret Burroughs was largely rooted in her work to establish and sustain two significant institutions in Chicago: the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC), founded in 1940, and the DuSable Museum of African American History, founded in her living room in 1961.” Cain’s book is the first full-length biography of Burroughs, and draws on extensive research as well as the author’s conversations with Burroughs herself.