By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
“From the Great Migration to the Digital Age,” is a moving storytelling event on family, history, and technology to be presented at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Geneseo Public Library.
Managing the digital world can feel like a full-time job. From helping aging parents navigate online healthcare portals to keeping up with a changing workplace, middle-aged adults increasingly bear the brunt of our tech-driven society.
Presenter Kyla Tate. Contributed photo
To help families understand the human side of this digital shift, the Geneseo Library will host a unique presentation by award-winning speaker and researcher Kyla Tate.
The program is part of the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, and is far from a dry tech lecture full of broadband statistics and jargon.
Tate’s presentation is described as “a dynamic blend of storytelling, history, and poetry.”
Tate, who served as the inaugural Director of Digital Equity for Cook County, reframes our modern digital struggles as a deeply human story. She traces how historical movements across Illinois – specifically the Great Migration (the mass movement of more than six million African Americans form the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West between 1916 and 1970) – directly shaped modern patterns of who has internet access, who trusts digital systems, and who gets left behind.
Contributed image
“We often treat tech frustration or lack of internet access as an isolated, modern problem,” Claire Crawford, director of the library, said. “What makes Kyla’s program so powerful is that she connects it to family history and community survival. It’s an eye-opening event for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by technology or who cares deeply about the history of our neighborhoods.”
The upcoming program explores several themes that hit close to home for local families:
The “Bridge Generation”: How middle-aged adults navigate being the default tech support for both their children and aging parents.
Living History: How major historical shifts in Illinois directly influenced the connectivity and resources available in our communities today.
Dignity Over Jargon: Shifting the conversation away from tech anxiety and toward basic human needs like connection, stability, and belonging.