Black Chicago Commemorates the 85th Annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic




Everyone who is anyone is said to have participated in the Bud Billiken parade -- from Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Barack Obama. Photo: Joe Lewis in Bud Billiken Parade.

August 9, 2014 marks the 85th annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic celebration -- commencing from 35th to 55th & Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Held in Chicago, Illinois annually, the parade is the oldest running African American parade in the United States of America. It is also the second largest parade in the country. Effectively, the parade, kicks off the traditional start of the school year. It marks the end of summer vacation for the young people in the Chicago, which hosts among the largest communities of people of African descent in the USA.



Portion of the Bud Billiken Day Parade, August 1948.

Portion of the Bud Billiken Day Parade, August 1973.



South Shore Drill Team performs at the 2011 Bud Billiken parade in Chicago's Bronzeville. (Photo: Kalle Eko)

The fictional character Bud Billiken was created in 1923 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott, the founder of the Chicago Defender newspaper. Before the parade began in 1929, there was a long-running Billiken newspaper column written by the famed African-American novelist Willard Motley. Embodying the hope of the African American community, for a time the Bud Billiken character also emerged into a popular comic strip in the Chicago Defender newspaper. Abbott also founded a Bud Billiken Club which continues to provide youth scholarships and training opportunities.


Chicago Defender's Bud Billiken Parade float hosts the annual King, Queen and Royal Court winners from its annual Bud Billiken youth contest. Contest winners are based on a results of a subscription drive and oral and written essay contest.



Dancers Perform at the 2012 Bud Billiken Parade (Photo: Kalle Eko)

The Bud Billiken parade was developed in 1929 and is always held the second Saturday in August to kick off the back-to-school year. It draws numerous community booths and parade floats hosted by community organizations, local businesses and government agencies -- using the gathering to distribute information and donate school supplies and other goodies to young people.

The parade occurs in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago's south side, the traditional settlement of African Americans to the region during the Great Migration from southern states. The parade is now the largest parade celebration in the city of Chicago, drawing an annual local production of costumes and parade floats. It features youth marching bands, drummers, step shows, acrobats, youth dancers and more.



Photographs of Children Along Bud Billiken's Parade Route (Photo: Kalle Eko)

At the end of the parade, families and friends gather in the city's Washington Park to end the festivities with a community-wide picnic. The collective coordination of the community to bring wide youth participation in the parade is displayed by the proud shouts of encouragement supporting the creative showcase of Black Chicago from family and friends lining the miles of covered terrain. 

The Soul of Bronzeville: The Regal, Club DeLisa and The Blues Exhibit

The DuSable Museum of African American History presents the exhibition “The Soul of Bronzeville: The Regal, Club DeLisa and The Blues." Through instruments, original photographs, personal memorabilia, concert collectibles, music and moving footage, this exhibition, curated by Gregg Parker, salutes Chicago as the home of many legendary Blues musicians. The exhibit runs through June 27, 2010 at the DuSable Museum in Chicago, Illinois (http://www.dusablemuseum.org/).

Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. | Political Activist & Founder of Operation PUSH Organization

Photo: Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Jesse Jackson was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, and died in Chicago on February 17, 2026. Raised in the segregated South, Jackson came of age during the height of the civil rights movement and was drawn into activism through his studies and his work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After King’s assassination, Jackson relocated to Chicago, where he transformed grassroots organizing into national political power, founding Operation PUSH and later the Rainbow Coalition. From Chicago, he emerged as one of the most influential Black political voices in America, breaking new ground with his historic runs for U.S. president in 1984 and 1988, campaigns that reshaped the Democratic Party and expanded the idea of who could seek—and claim—a place on the national political stage. 

JACKSON STARTS OPERATION PUSH IN CHICAGO

 idea of who couldand claim—a place on the national political 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.

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.

Black Chicago and the Regal Theater

Photo of Regal Theater: "Movie theater, Southside, Chicago, Illinois"

(1941, Library of Congress)

It is hard for many young people to imagine the kind of vibrant and bustling community life that surrounded the former site of the Regal Theater. The Savoy Ballroom complex, which would included the Regal Theater, opened on Thanksgiving night in 1927 at 4719 S. South Parkway (later known as 4719 S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive). The Regal Theater opened on February 24, 1928, giving birth to a new Black Chicago nightlife.

Photo: The Regal Theater: "In front of the movie theater, Chicago, Illinois"

(1941, Library of Congress)

Photo: An Exterior View of Chicago's Regal Theater

(ca. 1941, Library of Congress)

Built by the National Theater Corporation, the Regal Theater was one of the first theater halls that was built specifically for the African American community's entertainment. From 1928-1971, the Regal Theater offered patrons live performances and films.

Regal Theater acts included Louis Armstrong, County Baise, Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, the Ink Spots, Moms Mabley, the Mills Brothers, and Bessie Smith. The great historical acts of the theater is commemorated by the community with a mural at the northeast corner of the intersection of 47th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.

 

Photo: "Crowd coming out of Regal movie theater, Southside of Chicago, Illinois"

(1941, Library of Congress)

Built in 1926-27, the Regal Theater architect was John Eberson. Its architecture was the talk of the town. Its Spanish Baroque-revival facade and interior was based on the Moorish designs of North Africa and Spain. The auditorium ceiling was designed to affect the underside of an Arabian tent. The sky and distant castles were painted into the interior facade.

The theater featured act was typically a 22-piece jazz band, the "Regalettes" chorus line, and a Barton House organist. Chicago's Bronzeville community is fond of noting that the history of its community theater predated New York's Apollo Theater and held twice its capacity.

"Art exhibit in the lobby of the Regal Theater, Chicago, Illinois"

(Library of Congress, 1941)

THE NEW REGAL THEATER

In 1973, the Regal Theater, located at 4719 S. King Dr. Street, was demolished. the New Regal Theater, originally named the Avalon, was opened by a group of community investors in 1985. The project was spearheaded by Edward and Bettiann Gardner, founders of the Soft Sheen Products Company in Chicago.

The New Regal Theater Building

New Regal Theater Interior

The New Regal Theater sought to recall the Moorish architectural legacy of the Regal Theater in its close to $10 million dollar renovation. The restored theater was designed with a grand "Persian courtyard" to showcase theater and musical concerts. This South Side entertainment center is located in the South Shore community of Chicago at 1641 E. 79th Street.

Black Soldiers in American Wars: Chicago's "Fighting 8th" and the 370th Regiment

Group of officers of the 370th (Old Fighting 8th) on the deck of the La France. 

(Left to right: 2nd Lt. Lawson Price; 2nd Lt. L. W. Stearls; 2nd Lt. Ed. White; 

2nd Lt. Eli F. E. Williams; 1st Lt. Oasola Browning; Capt. Louis B. Johnson; 

1st Lt. Frank Bates; 1st Lt. Binga Desmond)

The Eighth Regiment of the Illinois National Guard is said to have started as the volunteer Hannibal Guard militia in the year 1871. They later became a division of the Illinois National Guard and was organized during the Spanish-American War of 1898 as an all-Black volunteer regiment. Called the "Fighting 8th" infantry, the regiment served along the Mexican border in 1916 and in France under Colonel Franklin A. Denison during World War I, when the regiment was incorporated into the 370th U.S. Infantry.

The Fighting Eighth gained special recognition as the regiment that finally drove the German forces from the Aisne-Marne region of France prior to the Armistice in 1918. Under the leadership of Brigadier General Richard L. Jones, the 370th Infantry Regiment was awarded 71 War Crosses with special citations for valor and merit and 21 Distinguished Service Crosses. General Jones was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for valor in battle.

Chicago homecoming of the 370th Regiment (Old 8th l1linois)

passing in parade at 13th St. and Michigan Ave.

Some of the Chicago girls welcoming home one of the

military men of the 370th (Old 8th Illinois National Guard)

THE EIGHTH REGIMENT ARMORY

Exterior view of the Eighth Regiment infantry armory

(Source: Chicago Daily News, 1915)

The Eighth Regiment Armory was originally headquartered in what has been described in the literature as a "stable" at the corner of 35th Street and Forest Avenue in Chicago. This facility was inadequate for military purposes and a new armory building was completed in 1915 after petitions were circulated in the Illinois legislature for a new armory.

This was the first armory built for an African-American military regiment in the U.S.  It was intended for both military and community use. It became the site of numerous neighborhood meetings and social functions within the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District in the Douglas community area of Chicago. A notable event at the armory includes a speech and rally in 1919 by Marcus Garvey, founder of the United Negro Improvement Association.

The avenue where the armory presides was named in honor of Lt. George R. Giles, the regiment's highest ranking officer to be killed in the line of duty. The armory closed in the early 1960s and re-emerged as the South Central Gymnasium. After an extensive renovation it was reopened in 1999 as a Chicago public high school. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located at 3533 S. Giles Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

VICTORY MONUMENT IN CHICAGO

The Victory Monument in Honor of the Fighting Eighth

The Victory Monument was erected in 1927 to honor the Black war soldiers of the Eighth Regiment. The design of the monument was developed by French-born sculptor Leonard Crunelle, a former pupil of noted Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft. The sculpture has three panels. One panel depicts a Black soldier, another a Black woman, and the last panel depicts the patriotic figure of "Columbia" holding a tablet where the locations of the regiments major battles are recorded.

The monument was dedicated on Armistice Day, November 11, 1928, in an elaborate public ceremony. In 1936, the sculpture of a Black soldier was added to the top of the original three-panel monument. The Victory Monument is located at the intersection of 35th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Chicago.