Bronzeville and African American History of Chicago Tour

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Quinn Chapel A.M.E (African Methodist Episcopal Church) is Chicago's oldest black congregation, first meeting in a private home as a non-denominational prayer group in 1844. Indeed, the group first met only one year after the incorporation of Chicago. The church played an integral role in the abolitionist movement leading up to and during the Civil War. The 1871 Great Chicago Fire destroyed the group's first church building (circa 1853). However, the congregation survived, using temporary locations for more than twenty years; they constructed a new chapel (the now-historic structure) in 1892. Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr., President Barack Obama, Mayor Richard M. Daley, Susan B. Anthony, and a host of notables have spoken at Quinn Chapel A.M.E.

2. Chicago Defender Building - Chicago Motor Row District

The Chicago Defender called 2400 S. Michigan its home from the late 1950s to 2005. Prior to that, for a more than twenty years, the building served as the headquarters of the Illinois Automobile Club, located in the historic Motor Row district of Chicago. In addition to this building, Fifty-five sites within the Motor Row District of Chicago's South Michigan Ave. are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Once housing 116 auto showrooms, the area later became a recording mecca -- tied to Chicago blues, and also the home of the Chicago Defender.

3. Monument to the Great Northern Migration

Dedicated in 1994, this monument was designed by Alison Saar and celebrates the thousands of African Americans who arrived in Chicago during the Great Migration of the 20th Century. The statue shows an African American traveler facing the North in representation of the mass migration of people of color who left the South and arrived in Chicago and other Northern cities in the months leading up to World War I. This migration pattern accelerated through the war years and continued throughout the 1920s and beyond.

4. The Murder of Eugene Williams and the 1919 Chicago Race Riot Marker

This small plaque along Chicago's Lakefront Trail shares the tragic story of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot and the event that sparked one of the worst episodes of racial violence in the Red Summer of 1919. The marker is near the place where Eugene Williams, an African American teenager, was stoned to death by white men while he and friends were swimming in Lake Michigan on July 27th, 1919. Williams and his friends were enjoying a day at the 25th Street Beach, which was reserved for African Americans when their raft drifted towards the 29th Street Beach which was reserved for whites. While Williams' friends abandoned the raft and swam to the safety of the 25th Street Beach, Williams, who could not swim, was at the mercy of white beachgoers. The summer of 1919 had been marked by high racial tension as white residents unleashed anger and resentment at the growing Black population that was part of the Great Migration. Near this location on that fateful July afternoon, several white young men who had been influenced by expressions of racism decided to join the attack against African Americans by throwing stones at Eugene Williams. Similar to the protests by adult whites against Black Americans for entering "their" city, these youth attacked Williams for entering "their" beach. This event sparked a wave of violent riots throughout the city that resulted in the deaths of 23 African Americans and 15 whites. There were at least 500 serious injuries and millions of dollars of property damage as 1,000 Black families were left homeless as a result of arsonists.

5. Camp Douglas

Camp Douglas was located between 31st Street, 33rd Place, Cottage Grove Ave and Giles Ave on the near-south side of Chicago. The camp operated between 1861 and 1865 receiving and training nearly 40,000 Union soldiers, including African American troops. From 1862 through 1865 the camp also served as a prison camp housing nearly 30,000 Confederate prisoners. Archaeological digs are underway and discovering many of the old structures.

6. Paul Laurence Dunbar Monument

This monument commemorates celebrated African American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). A native of Ohio, he became one of the first Black poets to gain national and international recognition in American history. More than a century after Dunbar’s death, as part of an effort to renovate the city’s Dunbar Park, the Chicago Park District and the Paul Laurence Dunbar Advisory Council proposed that a monument be erected in the park to honor the poet. To this end, they invited local artists to submit design proposals, and in 2012 selected the entry submitted by sculptor Debra Hand. Unveiled two years later, the monument consists of a six-foot-tall bronze statue of Dunbar on a simple Black marble pedestal. The sculpture depicts him standing, reciting a poem. He holds an open copy of Oak and Ivy in his right hand, while his left makes a gesture. The monument stands in a plaza that includes a knee-wall into which are inscribed stanzas from Dunbar’s poems.

7. The Sunset Cafe

The Sunset Cafe was one of Chicago’s famous Black-and-tan establishments. Located in Chicago, Illinois at E 35th St and Calumet Ave, the venue brought many Jazz legends including Louis Armstrong. The Cafe launched many careers. It has impacted Chicago’s history of jazz in its 30 years of operation. It is one of the last reaming jazz clubs of the 1920s in all of Chicago. The Sunset Cafe is highly recognized in the earliest forms of U.S jazz history.

8. Victory Monument

This monument was created by sculptor Leonard Crunelle in 1927. Located at Martin Luther King Drive and 35th Street in the neighborhood known as Bronzeville, the Victory Monument honors the men of the Eighth Regiment of the Illinois National Guard. This African American regiment is known for driving German forces from the Aisne-Marne region prior to the Armistice that ended the war on November 11, 1918.

9. Ida B. Wells-Barnett House

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was a civil rights advocate, journalist, and suffragist. She lived in this house from 1919 to 1929. Arguably, her most famous incident occurred in 1884 when Wells refused to sit in a segregated car on a train in Tennessee. She was forcibly removed and, after some time, was able to file a successful lawsuit in a lower court. However,the Tennessee Supreme Court saw fit to reverse this decision. Following her termination in 1891 after openly criticizing Memphis' Black schools, Wells turned to journalism full time. She became editor and co-owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and used it as a platform to advocate. She documented lynchings all across the country and raised awareness. Angered by her direct challenges to white "superiority", white Tennesseeans destroyed her press offices. Because of this she moved north and published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases. She wasnt quite able to get an anti-lynching legislation passed, but it is because of her that the larger scale Black movement was made possible. After settling in Chicago, she founded the Negro Fellowship League for Black men, the first kindergarten for Black children and the first suffrage club for Black women. She is credited with successfully integrating the U.S suffrage movement when she refused to walk with the other Black women in the back of the 1913 Washington parade. Instead of walking in the back with the others, she was able to infiltrate the ranks of her white Illinois peers once the march had began.

10. Chicago Bee Building

Located in the Black Metropolis Bronzeville District of Chicago, the Bee Building was home to The Chicago Bee, a newspaper that served the city's African American community from 1926-1946. Recently, the building was adapted for reuse as a branch of the Chicago Public Library, and after a 2.7 million dollar renovation, the Bee Building became a full service library.

11. Wabash Avenue YMCA

After its completion in 1913 this YMCA became a center for the assistance of newly arrived Southerners. They offered things like educational training, job training, and housing programs. The YMCA was being used by all classes and colors in the beginning.

12. South Side Park III-Home of the Chicago American Giants (1900-1940)

The Negro National League was created by Rube Foster in 1920. He decided that with this new league he would attempt to make a team his own and be the coach. The third South Side Park in Chicago, Illinois would become the home of the Chicago American Giants. Their team would find success with Foster and be remembered in history.

13. South Side Community Art Center

The South Side Community Art Center is an African American community art center and museum in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. It was established in 1940 with funding from the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, a Depression-era program aimed at providing employment to artists. Of the more than one hundred community art centers created by the program, South Side remains the only one still in operation in its original building. Today the community art center, supported by donations, offers a variety of art classes, and provides a platform for local African Americans to exhibit their artwork. It has been designated both a Chicago Landmark and a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance.

14. Home of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

Found within Chicago’s South Side neighborhood is the former home of one of America's pioneering minds of medicine and a significant figure in African American history. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams is one of the first major African American surgeons and is considered the first American surgeon to perform open heart surgery on July 9, 1893. Williams lived in the house with his family from 1905/6-1929. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on May 15, 1975.

15. Oscar Stanton De Priest House

Oscar Stanton De Priest was a congressman from Chicago who would become the first African American elected to Congress from a northern state and the first Black Congressman elected in the 20th century. Although more than a dozen African Americans were elected to Congress following the Civil War, there were no Black members of Congress between 1901 and De Priest's election in 1929. De Priest started life in Alabama as the son of slaves, but soon moved to Kansas. He later moved to Illinois where he purchased this building and became involved in public life. A defender of Chicago's growing Black community, De Priest was elected to three terms in Congress during the era when the Republican Party was more progressive on issues of race and civil rights and many Democrats ran openly upon a platform of white supremacy.

16. Robert S. Abbott House

This historic house was home to Robert S. Abbott, the founder of the Chicago Defender, one of the largest African American newspapers in the country. This home became a national landmark on Dec 8, 1976 and a city landmark on March 1, 2006. This property is privately owned. Visitors are welcome, but are asked to please respect the privacy of the owners.

17. The DuSable Museum of African American History

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 museum was founded in 1961 by educator and art historian Dr. Margaret Burroughs and works to preserve and interpret the experiences and achievements of people of African descent. The museum's permanent collection includes thousands of documents and artifacts, including many that are related to the history of Chicago. Visitors can also see works of art and tour special exhibitions throughout the year. The museum also sponsors workshops and lectures.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Bronzeville and African American History of Chicago Tour

Created by Clio Admin on December 8th 2020, 11:10:00 pm.

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Description

This tour starts at the DuSable Museum of African American History and works its way north to the Bronzeville neighborhood and Near South Side. The tour was organized with an emphasis on sites located in the Bronzeville neighborhood, with a few nearby sites such as the DuSable Museum added as options for those with time and transportation. If you enjoy this tour, please also consider a visit to other historical sites that are listed in Clio such as the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum.

Entries on This Tour

Bronzeville and African American History of Chicago Tour

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