Honoring the Life and Work of John Hagedorn
Event Summary
This commemoration event honored the life, work, and enduring influence of John Hagedorn, a scholar, activist, mentor, and community organizer whose intellectual and moral commitments reshaped the study of gangs, criminology, and urban inequality. Hosted by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago, the gathering brought together family members, longtime friends, former students, colleagues, and community partners to reflect on John’s extraordinary legacy as both an engaged scholar and a deeply humane individual.
Speakers traced John’s journey from civil rights and housing activism in Milwaukee to his groundbreaking academic contributions, including People and Folks, A World of Gangs, The Insane Chicago Way, Gangs on Trial, and Forsaking Our Children. Across decades of work, John consistently challenged stereotypes, rejected punitive narratives, and insisted on understanding people within their full historical, economic, and social contexts. His ethnographic approach centered dignity, relationship-building, and accountability—research not as extraction, but as solidarity.
The program highlighted John’s global impact, from Chicago and Milwaukee to Scotland, Latin America, and beyond, emphasizing how his work linked local struggles to global systems of inequality, criminalization, and state violence. Speakers shared personal stories of mentorship, intellectual rigor, and compassion, illustrating how John empowered students, community leaders, and formerly incarcerated individuals to tell their own stories and claim their humanity.
At its core, the event underscored John Hagedorn’s unwavering commitment to social justice, critical inquiry, and moral courage. His work and relationships live on through the many scholars, practitioners, and organizers he inspired. As repeatedly affirmed throughout the gathering, John’s legacy is not only written in books, but carried forward in collective struggle, ethical research, and the enduring belief that people are always more than the systems that confine them.