My Trip to Bronzeville
Friday, September 4th was a gorgeous day in Chicago’s historic neighborhood of Bronzeville. The weather was a wonderful mid 70’s, with no clouds in sight. I met my group near the intersection of 35th and King Drive, where we set off to explore the neighborhood surrounding IIT’s campus.
Since Bronzeville is not officially designated as one of Chicago’s 77 community areas, the boundaries are not firm. Since we were on foot, this didn’t matter much, since anything that’s walking distance of 35th and King Drive is definitely in Bronzeville.
Our first stop was a metal inscription on the ground, located in the median of King Drive on 35th street, which depicted a map of the neighborhood. This was a great first stop, since it gave us a good overview of the areas we were about to visit.
Across the street was the Victory Monument, a statue honoring the Eighth Regiment, a black regiment that fought during WWI. The statue depicts an African-American soldier who fought in the war.
On the corner of the street was the Liberty Life Insurance building. This building is the site of one of America’s first black-owned insurance companies. This company provided life insurance to black Americans who were largely uninsured at the time. Although the building is now under new ownership, it remains a historical landmark.
Our next stop was the former site of Sunset Cafe. This building was converted from an automobile garage to a hub for Chicago’s vibrant jazz music, which featured musicians like Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman. It also remained as a popular nightclub known as Grand Terrace for some time before eventually being remodeled into a hardware store.
We later made our way to the Chicago Military Academy, former site of the Eighth Regiment Armory. This building was the home of the aforementioned black military regiment, and is still used for military training today.
As we walked back up north on King Drive, we approached Olivet Baptist Church. Founded in the 1860s, Olivet is the oldest African-American Baptist Church in Chicago, and had a congregation as large as 20,000 in the 1940s.
Walking west on 31st Street, we stopped at Dunbar Park, named for Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was the first famous black poet, as well as a close friend of abolitionist Frederick Douglas.
Walking south on Indiana Avenue, we passed Unity Hall. Originally a Jewish social club, the building became home to the Peoples Movement Club, a black political organization headed by Chicago’s first black alderman Oscar Stanton De Priest.
Walking back over to King Drive and heading south, we passed the former home of Ida B. Wells. Wells was born as a slave in 1862 and spent her life advocating for civil rights, especially in the Jim Crow south, where widespread brutality such as lynching was present.
To finish our day, we stopped by the Marianos on King Drive to grab some snacks. Outside the store, there was a large mural commemorating black artists and culture.
We finished by walking to the nearby Indiana stop on the Green Line, where I headed back to my apartment on the north side. Overall, it was a wonderful experience that I learned a lot from.
