Flavor

City treasures abound in the African American community in Chicago. Watch the video and then read below about early landmarks and note their historical significance.

Interesting Places to See

Bronzeville

Enter the “Gateway to Bronzeville” and be greeted by a fifteen foot tall statue named the Monument to the Great Northern Migration, by statue designer Alison Saar. All along the Walk of Fame, designed by Geraldine McCullough, you will find plaques, statues and other street furniture which combine ethnic and cultural references about the neighborhood and the people of Bronzeville. In walking through Bronzeville you’ll pass a fourteen foot historical map of the neighborhood, cast in bronze. It was designed by Gregg LeFevre. This 1.5 mile walk helps to identify a neighborhood long passed over for public dollars, but is now being renewed with neighborhood interest. The walk reveals 91 bronze plaques identifying significant characters who once lived here.

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Chicago Bee Building

The last major structure built in the State Street commercial district was a combination newspaper, office and apartment building, commissioned by Anthony Overton. Overton was the businessman and entrepreneur who founded the Overton Hygienic Products Co. The company manufactured and sold flavor extracts and toiletries in the early 1900′s. By 1920, Overton was running a million dollar company. He also established the Douglass National Bank which operated until the depression of the 1930′s.continue

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South Side Community Center

South Side Community Arts has been a part of the Black community since 1941. Community leaders decided an institution should be developed where African American artists could develop and display their talents and train and teach Black youth. A civic-minded group purchased this old mansion and the center opened with a staff paid by the WPA (Work Progress Administration).

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Elliott Donnelly Youth Center

This is the play-lot of the Elliott Donnelly Youth Center. Founded in 1924, it is one of the city’s oldest social service agencies. Their purpose is to teach youth the fundamentals of citizenship, encouraging them to become responsible members of their community. The wall mural and sculptures are the creation of local artists and the youth participants of this center.

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Oak Woods Cemetery

Chartered in 1853, Oak Woods is the oldest private cemetery in Chicago. Created to serve the south side affluent, it is the final resting place to Chicago notables such as: Olympic super star, Jesse Owens; the late Mayors Harold Washington and William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson; activist and journalist, Ida B. Wells; nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi; Jesse Binga (nation’s first Black banker); Illinois State Senator Charles Chew; Johnson Publishing’s editor, Robert Johnson, baseball’s Cap Anson and many more.

There are those who view a cemetery only as a burial ground, but Oak Woods is a place filled with notable structures and landscaping. Oak Woods is a cemetery designed on the theme of parks. This marble and granite studded landscape is home to the Tower of Memories, a six-story mausoleum with massive stain glass windows, marble floors and crypts. The Memorial to Confederate Prisoners of War is two acres purchased by the federal government in 1867.

This 1.5 mile walk helps to identify a neighborhood long passed over for public dollars, but is now being renewed with neighborhood interest. The walk reveals 91 bronze plaques identifying significant characters who once lived here.

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Street Scene

During the 1800’s the privileged Black class  sent their children to Black universities, dance classes, had businesses with white workers,  and no one thought much about it. However with the “Great Migration,” a period that brought an estimated 120,000 Blacks from the South to Chicago,  a change in social patterns and neighborhoods occurred. Bronzeville blossomed with the migrants who found themselves restricted from most of Chicago’s neighborhoods. Located seven miles from the Loop, Bronzeville boasted the first Black owned and operated bank and insurance company, as well as playing host to most jazz and blues greats of the day.

 

Following World War II, decades of economic disinvestment, social change and urban renewal, a community with significant architecture, rich history and lustrous appeal quickly diminished. Businesses shut their doors. African American residents moved to other neighborhoods following the elimination of restricted housing covenants. This resulted in one third of the housing stock becoming vacant or abandoned. In the 1960’s the infamous State Street public housing development corridor was built, bringing in large numbers of low income families. Currently, residents, institutions and community based organizations are working simultaneously to redevelop the historical and architectural grandeur of the community. These efforts have increase community pride and united leadership to improve the environmental conditions of one of Chicago’s oldest neighborhoods.

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