by larry | Apr 4, 2022
Harold Washington was Chicago’s first black mayor. He won this historic election on April 12 1983, by a narrow margin. Washington abandoned an outwardly safe congressional seat after winning a second term in the U.S. House in order to run for mayor of Chicago, and he...
by larry | Apr 4, 2022
Spencer Leak, Sr. is the son of a pioneering Chicago mortician A.R. Leak who opened Unity Funeral Home in Chicago in 1933 and A.R. Leak Funeral Chapels in 1938. Spencer and his three brothers attended Raymond Elementary School. He graduated from Hyde Park High School...
by larry | Oct 20, 2022
Andrew Rube Foster (1879-1930) is considered the Father of Black Baseball. A player, manager, owner and commissioner, he founded the Negro National League in 1920 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. Illinois Connection: Played with the Chicago...
by larry | Oct 11, 2022
Jean Baptiste DuSable (1748-1818), a fur trader, entrepreneur, and linguist who became the first non-indigenous settler of Chicago, was born a freeman in what is now Haiti. He spoke French, Spanish, English, and several native dialects.
by larry | Oct 11, 2022
Robert Sengstacke Abbot (1868-1940) is considered the Father of Black Journalism and the first African-American media mogul. In 1905 he founded the Chicago Defender, known as America’s Black Newspaper. Illinois Connections: Chicago Resident
