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Bughouse Square Debates

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In the '20s and '30s, Chicago's Washington Square Park was a hotbed of rhetoric, as poets, preachers, left-wing agitators, and crackpots waxed radical before curious spectators. The park, popularly known as Bughouse Square ("bughouse" is slang for an insane asylum), eventually fell into disuse, but in the '80s, its reputation as a mecca of free speech and public discussion was revived with the Newberry Library's annual Bughouse Square Debates. This year's event — co-sponsored by the Freedom Museum and the Poetry Foundation — features an open-mic segment, poetry readings, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas impersonators, and a main debate with speakers addressing a wide range of hot-button issues, including immigration rights, the downtown parking-meter fiasco, and the much-criticized Chicago Olympic bid. Prizes go to the best soapboxers and loudest hecklers.

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Flavorpill is a proud media partner of this event. To learn more about the history behind the Bughouse Square Debates, check out Flavorwire.

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