The Great Northern Migration, Chicago, IL

As Northern U.S. industrialization took off during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the demand for labor was met by extensive immigration from Europe. World War I produced yet another economic boom while at the same time closing the seemingly endless supply of labor. Pulled by the economic opportunities in the North and pushed by [...]

Jazz Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

The Jazz Institute of Chicago was founded in 1969 by a small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners and musicians who came together to preserve the historical roots of the Chicago’s jazz music when rock ‘n roll had become the reigning cultural and financial force in American music. The Institute sponsors the world renown [...]

Harold Washington Cultural Center, Chicago, IL

  Named after Chicago’s first Afro-American Mayor, Harold Washington Cultural Center is a 1000 seat performance theater located in the Grand Boulevard community area of Chicago. It was originally to be named the Lou Rawls Cultural Center, but Alderman Tillman changed the name without telling Rawls. The Center is located on a historical corner in the [...]

DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL

Named in honor of Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Haitian fur trader and the first non-Native-American permanent settler in Chicago, the DuSable Museum of African American History is the first and oldest museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art. The holdings include more than 15,000 paintings, drawing, sculptures, books, [...]

Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, Chicago, IL

Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, a black man of Haitian and French descent, settled on the banks of the Chicago River in about 1773, when the land that would become Illinois was still a part of the British Empire. DuSable operated a thriving trading post and farm near where present-day Michigan Avenue crosses the Chicago [...]

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