Alexander Crummell: Founder of the American Negro Academy

Photo: Alexander Crummell (b. March 3, 1819 - 1898)

Alexander Crummell, A.B., D.D., LL.D was born March 3, 1819 in New York City. He was friend and mentor to W.E.B. Du Bois and an outspoken social commentator and clergyman in nineteenth century America. He founded the American Negro Academy and became a  critic of his contemporary Booker T. Washington.

"His father, Boston Crummell, was the son of a West African chief in Timanee. On his maternal side, Crummell’s ancestors had been free residents in New York for generations," according to the Alexander Crummell Collection, published by Scholarly Resources, Inc. His grandfather is said to have been a chief within the Vey tribe of West Africa.

"And, lastly, our boys and girls almost universally grow up without trades, looking forward, if they do look forward, many of them, to being servants and waiters; and many more, I am afraid, expecting to get a living by chance and hap-hazard.

Doubtless some of you will say that the colored people are not the only people at fault in these respects; that the American people, in general, are running wild about the higher culture -- are neglecting trades and merchanism, and are leaving the more practical and laborious duties of life to foreigners."

Excerpt from Civilization & Black Progress: Selected Writings of Alexander Crummell on the South, edited by J. R. Oldfield, p. 136, University Press of Virginia (Charlottesville and London), from The Publications of the Southern Texts Society Collection (First Edition 1995).

 

 

Photo: American Negro Academy Members includes a seated W.E.B. DuBois.

Crummell's American Negro Academy was an association of Africans from around the world. It was among the early societies of global Africans that would associate for progress of African people. The academy would advocate the “Talented Tenth” concept later articulated in the public writings of W.E.B. DuBois, one of the academy's founding members. Crummell's members in Liberia and Sierra Leone would pave the way for W.E.B. DuBois building associations between Blacks in America and Blacks in Africa.

Further reference: "Encyclopedia of Missions," by Harry New-comb; and in a sketch called "Africa in Brief," by the Rev. J. J. Coles, missionary to the Vey tribes in Africa.

Black Suriname: African Maroon Societies in South America

Maroon communities in the so-called New World were free Africans, mostly from 

Western Africa, who managed to escape European enslavement. This picture depicts 

Jamaican Maroons waiting to ambush an approaching British military settlement

(Image: cir. 1795, picture by J. Bourgoin, courtesy

of The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities)

African Maroon or Black Maroon societies are historically known to have existed throughout the Americas: from the Carolina islands of the U.S. to the Florida peninsula of the United States, to the mountains of Jamaica into the Suriname (fka Dutch Guiana) jungles. Maroon communities also existed in Brazil and Mexico. The Maroons were enslaved Africans captured by European slavers for forced plantation work in the New World.

Through revolt, the enslaved African became fugitive slaves and banded into refugee African communities throughout the Americas and Caribbean, developing separate from European settlers. Among the oldest known Maroons were from the region now called Suriname in northeastern South America. African Maroon societies developed in Suriname as early as the 17th Century.

Photo of Ndyuka tribes men of Suriname

Africans of Suriname: Djuka and Saramaka

The historical documentary below was shot in what was then known as Dutch Guiana by James A. Fitzpatricks for TravelTalks: Voice of the Globe. It provides a snapshot of the life of a group of kidnapped and purchased West Africans who chose to flee Dutch plantation slavery in South America. A 1976 study by Richard Price states that there were six African Maroon groups in Suriname, dividing them into two main groups on the basis of cultural and linguistic differences, as well as location: (1) the Eastern Tribes, consisting of the Ndyuka (Aucaner, Awka), the Aluku (Aluku nenge, Boni), and the Paramaka (Paramacca); and (2) the Central Tribes, consisting of the Saramaka (Saramacca), the Matawai, and the Kwinti (cf. the tribal distribution map in Price 1976: 5). The Djuka and Saramaka are the largest African family groups. The Aluku, Matawai, and Paramaka are much smaller in number. The smallest tribe is the Kwinti, with fewer than 500 people.

Among the early anthropological field studies of New World African tribes were among the Djuka. In 1961, Dutch historians published substantial ethnographic resources. Additionally, general ethnographic research among the Saramaka family group was conducted by Richard and Sally Price in 1966-68, and briefly in 1974-75.

Map of Suriname in South America

For the most part, the Djuka live along the interior rivers Suriname. After a half century of guerrilla warfare against colonial and European troops, Maroons of Suriname signed treaties with the Dutch colonial government in the 1760s, enabling them to live independently. Some commentators state that the policy of autonomy has changed in the past few decades. The Djuka population increased markedly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Growing numbers are now living in and around Paramaribo, the capitol of Suriname, and they also seem to be expanding eastward into adjacent French Guiana. See also Journey Man Pictures' YouTube video documentary/commentary, Defending the Secret Slave State - Suriname.

For further reading about African Maroon cultures in the Americas: 

• More from BHH Blog: Africans in Brazil: Zumbi dos Palmares ~ Zumbi Leads the Quilombo Resistance
• Herskovits, Melville Jean, and Herskovits, Frances S., “Rebel destiny: among the Bush Negroes of Dutch Guiana, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1934. 366 p. illus., maps.
• Hurault, Jean, “Etude demographique comparee des Indiens Oayana et des noirs refugies Boni du Haut-Maroni” (Guyane Francaise) [Comparative demographic study of the Oyana Indians and the Boni refugee Blacks of the Upper Maroni (French Guiana). Population, 14 (1959): p. 509-534.
• Kobben, Andre J. F, “Participation and quantification; field work among the Djuka (Bush Negroes of Surinam).” In D. G. Jongmans and P.C. W. Gutkind, eds. Anthropologists in the Field. Assen, Van Gorcum, 1967.
• Kobben, Andre J. F. Review of Jean Hurault 1961, “Les Noirs Refugies Boni de la Guyane Francaise. Caribbean Studies,” (1965): p. 63-65.
• Price, Richard, “The Guiana Maroons: a historical and bibliographical introduction.” Baltimore and London, the Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.

Black Media Mogul: Oprah Winfrey

Photo: Oprah Winfrey on the U.S. Presidential campaign trail

with Chicagoans Barack and Michelle Obama

Originally named "Orpah" Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954 in Mississippi, Ms. Winfrey would go on to become a leading television talk show host, film actress, producer and philanthropist. She is the first Black woman and only the third woman in history, behind Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball, to own a film production studio. Harpo Studios, located in Chicago, serves as a testament to Winfrey's historic legacy.

Photo: Harpo Studios is located on the Westside of Chicago, Illinois

at 1058 W. Washington Boulevard

Entrance way into The Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago

on the production campus of Harpo Studios

The building structure that now houses the Harpo Studio production facilities was originally built in the early 1900s. In 1952 the 88,000 square foot complex was converted into a production studio. In 1988, Winfrey purchased it and completely renovated it into a state-of-the-art, Hollywood-quality film production and post-production facility.

Trailblazing Black Media Professional

The Oprah Winfrey show began with a record-breaking launch in more than 130 markets in September 1986. She was the first Black woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show in the United States. It is currently seen in more than 99% of the country and in more than 100 foreign markets by millions of viewers. The studio receives several thousand letters weekly from fans around the globe.

Photo: O, The Oprah Magazine

In addition to producing a monthly print magazine, "O, The Oprah Magazine," Oprah has committed herself to bringing high quality production to both the big and little screen. Harpo Studios produces "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and has produced movie productions. This includes the ABC Theater Presentation of "There Are No Children Here" (1993), and the mini-series "The Women of Brewster Place" (1989), based on the book by author Gloria Naylor. In 2005, the television film movie "There Eyes Were Watching God," based on the book of the same name by American anthropologist, writer, and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, was also produced by Harpo Studios.

Photo: Oprah Gaile Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) at her

50th birthday party at Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles (2004)

Championing Education Among Black South Africans

In January 2007, Winfrey investment of time and $40 million resulted in the opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg, South Africa. At the boarding school's opening, Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for investing in the future of South Africa. Oprah was born in poverty in rural Mississippi. Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for overcoming her challenging conditions and growing to be of service to others.

Antiguan's Honor U.S. President Barack Obama with Mount Obama

Photo: U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama II

Barack H. Obama II is the 44th President of the United States, and first African American to hold the post. Born on August 4, 1961, Obama's story is a dual one: the American story of values from the heartland of America and the African story of perseverance of the African spirit.

Mount Obama

Antigua announced the renaming of its tallest mountain peak as Mount Obama on Jan. 20, 2009, in honor of the first Black president of the United States. Mount Obama was named on August 4, 2009, marking President Barack Obama's 48th birthday. Located in St. John's, Antigua, Mount Obama is part of the two-island country of Antigua and Barbuda. This is the Caribbean nation's highest honor.

"As an emancipated people linked to our common ancestral heritage and a history of dehumanizing enslavement, we need to at all times celebrate our heroes and leaders who through their actions inspire us to do great and noble things," said Antiguan Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer at the renaming inauguration that drew about 300 at the base of the mountain, near the island's southern coast, in St. John. (Huffingtonpost.com, 8/4/09).

Image: Antigua & Barbuda

Originally known as Boggy Peak, Mount Obama has been a popular hiking mountain at 1,300 feet (395 meters) above the sea in Antigua, a great destination for hikers and family travelers.

African Americans on Maui Association

As part of the 2010 Black History Month, the African Americans on Maui Association hosts a new book release launch of African Americans in Hawaii: A Search for Identity," compiled and edited by Ayin M. Adams, Ph.D., followed by a Special Awards Ceremony. 

Full listing of Black History Month Events on Maui, including events at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

 

Post script: support efforts of local Hawaiian community to preserve African American historical heritage on the island by signing this petition. In 2015, the petition is to be submitted in support of a proposal to the Hawaii State Legislature to establish a Hawaii Commission to Preserve the Cultural Heritage of People of African descent in Hawaii. 

African Americans in Paris

African American Entertainers in Paris

Since the early 1800s, the aspiring American artist has been drawn to Paris as a kind of creative pilgrimage. The City of Lights has also obtained a special place in the hearts of the African American expatriate in search of artistic and intellectual freedom in Europe.

BLACK AMERICAN ARTISTS, WRITERS AND MUSICIANS

The Literati

In Black literature, James Baldwin is well known for his love of Paris and would reach the end of his life on French soil. Baldwin said that it took him going to Paris to learn what it meant to be an American.

The writer Richard Wright is known to have frequented the Latin Quarter and Saint-German-des-Prés of Paris and may have best described what the Black expats searched for most: "[a]ll of my life I had been full of a hunger for a new way to live." (from Black Boy).

Paris in 1924 found the poet Langston Hughes scraping by from meager wages from working in one of Montmartre's most popular night clubs. Notwithstanding, Hughes described his time in Paris as "a dream come true". Countee Cullen, Alain Locke, Claude McKay, Chester Himes are among the other historical Black literati of Paris.

The Entertainers

The singing and dancing saloon-owner Ada "Bricktop" Smith operated Chez Bricktop at 66 rue Pigalle that became a beacon of Parisian night-life from 1924 to 1961. Chez Bricktop's wide appeal is noted from its presence in the writings of Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot. The poet Gwendolyn Bennett describes a 1925 evening at Chez Bricktop in his diary as follows:

"Then at 4:15 A.M. to dear old ‘Bricktop’s’ ... extremely crowded this night with our folk. Lottie Gee there on her first night in town and sings for ‘Brick’ her hit from ‘Shuffle Along’—‘I’m Just Wild About Harry.’ Her voice is not what it might have been and she had too much champaign [sic] but still there was something very personal and dear about her singing it and we colored folks just applauded like mad." (Diary of Gwendolyn Bennett, entry of 8 Aug. 1925, Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, New York.)

Also of note among the entertainers, Josephine Baker is probably best known. New-Orleans born Sidney Bechet, called the founding father of Jazz, also made a stamp on the city when he opened the "Chez Sidney" cabaret in 1951.

Photo: Sidney Bechet with Christian Azzi at the piano (cir. 1950s, Paris)

Photo: Sidney Bechet (1897–1959)

The Fine Artists

Montparnasse has historically been of central import in the fine arts world, and a number of African-American artist worked and lived along its 6th and 14th arrondissements.

Fine artists Palmer Hayen, Lois Mailou Jones, Archibald J. Motley Jr., Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Augusta Savage, Albert Alexander Smith, and Hale Woodruff have all lived and produced works in Paris. In 1996, the paintings of Lois Mailou Jones were featured in an art exhibition entitled "Paris, the City of Light".

Photo: Lois Mailous Jones  (b. 11/3/1905 - d. 6/9/1998) in her Paris studio, circa 1936.

Black Paris' Historic Haunts

Photo: The 369th Infantry Regiment ("Harlem Hellfighters")

(cir. December 27, 1917)

For the historical buffs, the Champs Elysees will resound as the place where the "Harlem Hellfighters" received a hero's welcome after World War I (WWI). The Harlem Hellfighters were the first all-black U.S. combat unit to be shipped overseas during WWI.

On a more controversial note, a Paris street marker will direct the traveler to the residence where the 1787 rendezvous between the U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings is reported to have occurred. This Paris rendezvous resulted in the birth of a child between Jefferson and Hemings that would add African-lineage to the Jefferson family tree.

There are a growing number of Black Paris tours. A little reading, however, will make travel to Paris a more memorable experience. In perusing the ample literature you may be inspired to search out the bistros and cafes where your favorite Black writer sipped coffee, or to study the landscape that inspired one of the many Lois Mailou Jones' Paris landscapes.

For Further Reading:

• Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin (Delta)
• Black Girl in Paris, by Shay Youngblood (Riverhead)
• Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story Between the Great Wars, by William A. Shack (George Gund Foundation Book in African American Studies)
• New Negro Artists in Paris: African American Painters and Sculptors in the City of Light, 1922-1934, by Teresa Leininger-Miller (Rutgers University Press)

The Black Church as Civil Rights Headquarter and Community Center: Chicago's Quinn Chapel AME Church and Olivet Baptist Church

Photo: Quinn Chapel Church in Chicago

QUINN CHAPEL A.M.E. CHURCH

Founded in 1844, the Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church is Chicago's oldest Black religious congregation. The church was named after Bishop William Paul Quinn, a central figure in the westward expansion of African Methodism.

In 1850, the U.S. Congress passed a more severe Fugitive Slave Law which said that any white person with no more than a sworn witness could claim a Black person as his escaped slave and legally secure the individual to petition before a federal commissioner. In its swift reaction, Quinn Chapel passed a resolution stating “We who have tasted freedom are ready to exclaim, in the language of Patrick Henry: 'Give us liberty, or give us death.'” The congregation immediately mobilized its forces to watch for slave hunters.

Quinn Chapel's pulpit has been graced with Black leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quinn Chapel helped found the Bethel A.M.E. Church, Wabash Avenue YMCA, and Provident Hospital, the first Black-owned hospital in the nation. The current gray-stone brick building of this Black institution is designed in a Romanesque architectural style that was erected in 1892. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church is located at 2401 S. Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

Photo: Olivet Baptist Church

OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH

Olivet Baptist Church is one of the oldest Baptist churches in Chicago. Founded April 6, 1850, this congregation was an active station on the Underground Railroad. Its pastor was a leading member of the Vigilance Committee which was organized to help runaway slaves and fight the Fugitive Slave Law.

By the 1920s, under the leadership of Lacy Kirk Williams, who became pastor of the church in 1915, Olivet Baptist Church became one of the most prominent Black churches in the nation. From 1915 to 1920, the church's membership more than doubled. Under the leadership of Williams, Olivet was not only a religious center but a community center. During this time, a full-time staff of 16 operated a program that included a labor bureau, nursery, kindergarten, a private welfare department, in addition to a community club house and athletic facilities. Olivet Baptist Church is located at 401 E. 31st Street in Chicago, Illinois.

Black Entertainment: Chicago's Historic Palm Tavern Restaurant and Music Club

Photo: The Palm Tavern in Chicago's Black metropolis-Bronzeville, cir. 1941

The Palm Tavern was a "must do" performance stop for the Who's Who of Jazz performers. It was located in Chicago Landmark Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District at 446 East 47th Street in Chicago, Illinois from 1931 to 2006.  

THE HISTORY OF THE PALM TAVERN

Established in either 1931 or 1933, the original owner of Palm Tavern was James Knight. Gerri Oliver purchased the Palm Tavern from the original owners in either 1951 or 1956, the later date is reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Nearby the Palm Tavern was the Regal Theater, the mid-south mecca for Black music performers who passed the word that when playing a Chicago gig at the Regal Theater, Oliver's red beans and rice were not to be missed.

An unbelievable number of musicians performed at this Bronzeville community establishment for more than 75 years. The many names and stories of which are in private photograph and memorabilia collections, such as the Gerri Oliver Collection, Abbott Sengstacke Collection, and Getty Images Collection.

THE BLACK CHICAGO RENAISSANCE AND THE PALM TAVERN 

Historians will often disagree on when a Renaissance begins and ends. The Black Chicago Renaissance occurred around the same times as the Harlem Renaissance, namely in the 1920s and 1930s. Most commentators mark the beginning of the Black Chicago Renaissance as the early 1930s, fueled by the Great Migration of African American Americans from the South.

The Palm Tavern attracted artists from music to writers. The Palm Tavern was home away from home for the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, the Ink Spots, Josephine Baker, and other notable musicians. It was frequented by Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. The famous late poet and writer Gwendolyn Brooks resided in this South Side community.

Photo: Early Palm Tavern postcard

The Palm Tavern was also rest and relaxation place of choice for Chicago's Black middle class. Its era during the Chicago Renaissance is preserved in the priceless collection of sepia photographs and memorabilia enshrined along the walls, as a testament to the history of its service to the community. Gerri Oliver will cheerfully indulge curious customers with aging scrap books. Before purchasing the establishment she served as a waitress for many years at the Palm Tavern.

Photo: Palm Tavern patrons pose for the camera

This historic photo notes the patrons are at the Palm Tavern on April 12, 1939. The night of the inauguration of members of the City Council of Chicago. Beginning left to right: Alderman Earl B. Dickerson, 2nd Ward; Alderman Benjamin A. Grant, 3rd Ward; Kathryn Dickerson and Erma Grant.

THE PALM TAVERN IN RECENT HISTORY

In 1983, Chicago's Palm Tavern hosted the grassroots fundraiser that would result in the election of Chicago's first Black Mayor, Harold Washington. The history of the Palm Tavern did not live on as this blogger notes that the legendary establishment was demolished. According to another blogger, the picture below was the state of the Palm Tavern in the spring of 2006.

Photo: Palm Tavern, cir. spring 2006 with blogger noting that

Gerri Oliver was still operating the business a few years

before this picture was taken.

Photo: Palm Tavern grounds photo cir. October 2006

Nina Simone

Video: Nina Simone (/ˈniːnə sɨˈmoʊn/)

(b. February 21, 1933 – d. April 21, 2003)

Born in Tryon, North Carolina, Eunice Kathleen Waymon became best known by her stage name Nina Simone once she completed her studies at Juilliard School of Music as a classical pianist. She performed folk, jazz, blues, and soul music to live audiences throughout Africa, the Caribbean Islands, the EU, and US. Ms. Simone's music performances were some of the most classic stage productions in the history of American music.

Photo of Nina Simone

Anthony Overton: A Black Manufacturer, Banker, Lawyer and Publisher

Photo: Anthony Overton (b. March 21, 1865 - d. July 2, 1946)

On March 21, 1865, Anthony Overton was born into slavery in Monroe, Louisiana. It was not until December 18, 1865 that slavery legally ended in the United States. Overton became a pioneering manufacturer, banker, lawyer and businessman. Much of his business operations arose among the African American community in Chicago.

ANTHONY OVERTON

The son of Anthony and Martha (Deberry) Overton, Anthony Overton was educated at Washburn College and would also graduate from the University of Kansas where he earned a Bachelor of Laws. He graduated from the University of Kansas law school. He practiced law for a time and even served as a judge before concentrating on developing his business operations.

In 1898, Overton established the Hygienic Manufacturing Company in Kansas City. In 1911, he moved operations to Chicago where he manufactured baking powder, toilet preparations, and other extract products. He soon launched the High-Brown Products label where he produced a full-line of ladies fine cosmetics and perfumes in Chicago.

 
OVERTON HYGIENIC BUILDING

Photo: The Overton Building (photograph from Commission on

Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks)

Photo: Overton Hygienic Building in Chicago Today

Anthony Overton developed a major business conglomerate in Chicago that began its operations from this Overton Hygienic Building. In 1922, Overton commissioned architect Z. Erol Smith to design and build the Overton Hygienic Building. In addition to hygienic care products, Overton would operate the Chicago Bee newspaper franchise, Victory Life Insurance Company, Douglass National Bank, and Northern Realty Company from this business facility and his second building, The Chicago Bee Building. 

The Overton Hygienic Building was later known in history as the Palace Hotel. The building is now owned by the Mid-South Planning and Development Commission, which announced plans to use the building as an incubator for small businesses within the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District neighborhood. The Overton Hygienic Building is a Chicago Landmark and part of the historic Bronzeville District in the Douglas community area of Chicago, Illinois. It is located at 3619-3627 State Street.

THE CHICAGO BEE BUILDING

Photo: The Chicago Bee Building

Photo: The Bee Building, now known as The Bee Branch Library

In 1926, The Chicago Bee newspaper publishing business was founded as one of Chicago's African American newspapers. Overton affirmed his confidence in the viability of the Black Metropolis of Bronzeville Chicago by commissioning architect Z. Erol Smith again to design a new three-story building to operate his new newspaper publishing business in a separate facility as his research and development, and manufacturing operations.

The Chicago Bee Building features a richly ornamented facade executed entirely in terra cotta. It was one of the most picturesque of the historic buildings in Bronzeville -- at the time the only one designed in the Art Deco style of the late 1920s.

Photo: Librarian Jo Willis poses in front of the Art Deco doors of the Chicago Bee Building

Although construction started at the beginning of the Great Depression, the building was ready for occupancy by 1931. In addition to the Chicago Bee newspaper, the building would house the offices of the Overton Hygienic Company after the Douglass National Bank closed in 1932. The newspaper closed in the early 1940s. The Anthony Overton Elementary School on Chicago's South Side was later named in honor of this great African-American businessman.

Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and the Operation PUSH Organization

Photo: Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. (b. October 8, 1941)

On December 25, 1971, the young Jesse Jackson along with 70 other prominent Black leaders founded Operation PUSH, a social change organization headquartered in Chicago.

JACKSON STARTS OPERATION PUSH IN CHICAGO

Now with more than 70 affiliates across the nation, Operation PUSH focuses on Black political empowerment as well as encouraging increased connections between Blacks and American industry. The community organization has successfully negotiated agreements with large and small businesses across the nation to increase fair employment practices in hiring, promotions, franchising, and sub-contracting opportunities for all Americans.

Photo: A young Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. with Martin Luther King, Jr.

and others on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged the youthful Jackson to become a strong community activist in Chicago and in the nation. Jesse Jackson, Sr. launched his national political career from the Operation PUSH headquarters. The organization served as the base where Jackson launched his U.S. presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988.

THE RAINBOW PUSH COALITION BUILDING

Photo: Operation Push National Headquarters

The national headquarters for Operation PUSH was built in 1923. It was originally built for the Kehilath Anshe Ma'arive (K.A.M.) congregation, the oldest Jewish congregation in Chicago. Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and other community organizers purchased the building in 1971. The Rainbow Coalition was founded by Jackson in 1985 and was housed in the building at 930 E. 50th Street. 

Surrounding the Operation PUSH headquarters are older generation mansions lining Drexel Boulevard in the Bronzeville community of Chicago's South Side. In his classic work Native Son, writer Richard Wright chronicles the life of a young Black man from the community where the picturesque building stood.

Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition was subsequently merged and renamed The Rainbow PUSH Coalition. It advocates in both U.S. civil rights and international human rights efforts. This historic building continues has served as a voter registration center and labor mediation site for many years.

Video: Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-2) continues his father's legacy
of political activism. Here he speaks in the Operation PUSH building in 2006
where he launched his political campaign for the Chicago Mayor post.

Black Politics: Oscar Stanton DePriest and Unity Hall

Photo: Oscar Stanton DePriest (b. March 9, 1871 - d. May 12, 1951)

In 1915, Oscar Stanton DePriest was elected the first African American City Council person in Chicago. Two years later he established the People's Movement Club as a political base outside of party politics channels in the racially polarized city. The Unity Hall building housed DePriest's People's Movement Club and would become the community headquarters for other prominent Chicago politicians such as William Dawson.

Image: Early Political Campaign Button for Oscar Stanton DePriest

Oscar De Priest's successful election campaign in Chicago's Lakeshore led the trend toward an increase in Black political representation in the north. In 1928, De Priest became the first African American outside the South elected to Congress. His representation led to significant federal anti-discrimination legislation.

DePriest was particularly interested in mobilizing voters of the rapidly growing Black Belt of Chicago's Second Ward. The community where Unity Hall is located was a bustling strip of Chicago's South Side that was noted for its cabarets and limited housing. Unity Hall would serve as a community house to various organizations throughout the years.

From 1916 to 1919, approximately a half a million Blacks moved to Chicago's Bronzeville community. The housing squeeze was due to the rise of industrialization and factory jobs in northern cities like Chicago. This resulted in an influx of Blacks from the South. Couple this with apartheid-style housing restrictions and the powder keg of racial tension in Chicago would lead to the infamous Chicago Race Riots of 1919.

UNITY HALL

Photo: Unity Hall, 3140 S. Indiana, Chicago

Photo: Unity Hall, Moorish Science Convention of 1928

Unity Hall was built in 1887 by architect L.B. Dixon. The red brick and terracotta building located at 3140 S. Indiana Avenue was originally built for a Jewish Social Organization called the Lakeside Club. This building is among the rare surviving 19th-century club-house architectural structures surviving in Chicago. This building structure is among the National Historic Landmarks.

African Americans in the Insurance Business: Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Co.

Photo: Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Co. Chicago 15, Illinois

Multigraph Division, Stock Room, HOME OFFICE (ca. 1950, postcard)

The Supreme Life Insurance Company (formerly Liberty Life Insurance Company) was the first Black owned and operated insurance company in the northern United States. 

FAIR INSURANCE POLICIES FOR BLACKS IN CHICAGO

Frank L. Gillespie was an Arkansas-native and insurance agent for Royal Insurance Company. He quickly noted the inferior quality life insurance policy provisions offered African Americans by the White-owned insurance agency. The Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Co. (also referenced to as Supreme Life Insurance Company) was incorporated in 1919 by an investment group headed by Gillespie. The first Black-owned insurance agency outside of the U.S. southern states offered  African Americans a better quality life insurance than offered by White-owned agencies of the time. 

 

By 1921, Gillespie raised $100,000 to issue life insurance policies to Chicago's African American residents. The original offices for the young firm were set-up in a store-front and second floors of what was then known as Roosevelt State Bank. It is a two-story commercial building structure located at what when then referred to as the corner of 35th Street and South Parkway (now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive or known by the natives as King Drive).

Photo: The Supreme Life Building (Chicago)

(3501 S. King Drive, cir. 1985)

Located in the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville Historic District of Chicago, the historic Supreme Life Building was built in 1921 by architect Albert Anis. In 1924, Supreme Life Insurance Co. bought the complete bank building at 3501 S. King Drive. The Supreme Life company fully operated the structure from 1919 to 1962. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on September 9, 1998. 

PROSPERING IN BRONZEVILLE

By 1925, the company had written more than $5 million in insurance policies and opened branch offices in Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, and Washington D.C. It was one of the few Black insurance companies to survive the Great Depression. After the Great Depression, Supreme Life expanded into one of the nation's largest minority insurance companies.

Photo: Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Co.

Chicago, Illinois (ca. 1950, postcard)

Photo: Main Lobby - Supreme Life Insurance Co.

3501 South Parkway, Chicago Illinois (ca. 1950, postcard)

In 1960, the National Insurance Association (NIA) had 46 members. The 46 insurance companies across the nation were owned and operated by African American businessmen. Collectively, they had $1.65 trillion (not a typo) in insurance policies in force. The Supreme Life Insurance Company of America was the third largest Black life insurance company in the nation at the time. In 1960, NIA was holding $300 million in assets. See Abner, III, David, "Some Aspects of the Growth of Negro Legal Reserve Life Insurance Companies, 1930-1960" (Indiana University 1962 doctoral thesis), p. 65, 172.

Currently in Chicago, African-American operated insurance companies include Insurance Brokers Inc., which operates its Chicago home-branch offices at locations on both Chicago's south side and north side. Insurance Brokers was founded by the Jamaican-born business man and long-time Chicago native Herbert Witter. It offers diverse policies in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania. The W.A. George Insurance Agency is also a Black owned and operated bonded insurance agency  in Chicago and was established in 1972 by Mercedes George.

While the original NIA organization no longer exists, the National African-American Insurance Association (NAAIA) currently operates as national association for Blacks in the insurance business. The Chicago chapter of NAAIA is quite active.

Dr. Theodore Kenneth Lawless: Dermatologist, Businessman, and Philanthropist

Photo: Dr. Theodore K. Lawless (b. Dec. 6, 1892 - d. May 1, 1971)

Dr. Theodore Kenneth "T.K." Lawless had an extensive knowledge of dermatology that made him one of the leading international skin specialists of his time.

EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING

He was born to Rev. Alfred Lawless and Harriet Dunn Lawless in Thibodeaux, Louisiana in 1892. Lawless became a committed philanthropist after completing extensive academic studies and achieving worldwide success in his medical practice.

He attended Talladega College in 1914 where he earned his B.A. In 1919, he obtained an M.D. from Northwestern University School of Medicine, and an M.A. in 1920 from Northwestern University. He studied dermatology at Columbia University in 1920 and attended Harvard University in 1921.

From 1921-22, Lawless studied at the University of Paris. From 1922-23, he studied at the University of Freiburg, and from 1923-24 he studied at the University of Vienna. He became a noted lecturer in the Department of Dermatology at Northwestern University in Chicago. He was also once a professor of physiology at Howard Medical School.

MEDICAL PRACTICE

Dr. Lawless created Chicago's largest and most respected dermatology clinics in the heart of the African American community. Patients came from across the nation for his coveted services. The clinics where located in the T.K. Lawless Professional Building, located at 4300 S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

Photo: T.K. Lawless Professional Buiding in Chicago at 4300 S. King Drive

His medical research contributed greatly towards establishing a cure to leprosy. His knowledge in dermatology and in the treatment of syphilis were used by both U.S. and European physicians. He served as a consultant to the U.S. Chemical Warfare Board. During World War II, he served on the Advisory Committee on venereal disease.

Dr. Lawless donated a research laboratory to Provident Hospital on the South Side of Chicago. A clinic in Israel was named after him to honor his $160,000 financial donations toward establishing a dermatology clinic (Lawless Department of Dermatology) at the Beilinson Hospital in Tel-Aviv, Israel. In 1954, Lawless was awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest ranking NAACP award. By the 1960s, Ebony magazine listed Dr. Lawless among America's 35 Negro millionaires.

Chicago Urban League: Promoting Black Community Development

Photo of children outside of the Chicago Urban League

In 1916 a group of community leaders established what would become one of the oldest and largest race relations agencies in the country. The organization was founded to assist African Americans migrating from the South to Chicago during the Great Migration. It helped the new residents with services in housing and employment matters.

Photo: Chicago Urban League sponsored Father & Son Banquet at the Savoy Ballroom

(Silkscreen on boardby Albert M. Bender, Chicago, 1939, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division,

WPA Poster Collection)

 

In cooperation with seven other offices around the city, the Chicago Urban League was instrumental with stabilizing the African American community after the Chicago Race Riots of 1919.

As one of the first institutions to produce sociological studies of the community, it became the forerunner in reporting important findings in the area of race relations, labor relations, and juvenile delinquency. It is the oldest and largest of the 113 National Urban League affiliations across the country.

The Chicago Urban League occupied the Swift mansion shown above for years. Its offices are now located next door to its historic residence, a modern multi-level office facility at 4510 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Promoting Black Artists: The South Side Community Art Center of Chicago

Photo: The South Side Community Art Center

The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) has provided entry to the arts for thousands by supporting Chicago’s African American artists since 1941.

BLACK CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

The South Side Community Art Center was purchased by a private committee spearheaded by the African American businessman Golden B. Darby. Garnering the financial support of the U.S. federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), the art center was formally dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt in May, 1941. It officially opened its doors in December, 1941.

The SSCAC was founded to meet the community need to encourage the development of fine arts. It became an institution where African American artists could develop and display their works and train Black youth in the arts. Filmmaker and photographer Gordon Parks; artists Margaret Burroughs, Archibald J. Motley, Charles White, and Eldzier Cortor; poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and writer Richard Wright, all honed their crafts at this institution.

Photo: The late fine artist Charles H. White (1918-1979)

Photo: The late poet and writer Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)

The South Side Community Art Center is located at 3831 S. Michigan Avenue, the former mansion of White Sox owner Charles Comisky. It hosts writer's workshops and classes in painting, drawing, photography, and pottery.

Encourage Community Arts