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 River. DuSable’s post served Native Americans, British, and American explorers, as well as Frenchmen who stayed on in the territory even after their armies’ defeat in the French and Indian War. Sometime around 1800 DuSable left his settlement for Missouri. Historians do not know why he departed the Illinois country. Nonetheless, DuSable’s pioneering effort made him the first non-Native American to settle the area that would become the metropolis of Chicago, Illinois.

In DuSable’s home, which he shared with his Indian wife, the first marriage in Chicago was performed, the first election was held, and the first court handed down justice. The religion of the first Chicagoan was Catholic and every contemporary report about DuSable describes him as a man of substance who started the story of Chicago as well as the story of the African American in Chicago.

Photo: In recognition of his pioneering role, the US Postal Service issued a Black Heritage Series, 22-cent stamp, in honor of entrepreneur and diplomat on February 20, 1987.