Daniel Hale Williams performed the country’s first successful open-heart surgery there.īy the mid-twentieth century, the Chicago Housing Authority began constructing an increasing number of public housing projects, including the Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens, near Bronzeville. Bronzeville was also home to the first black hospital in Chicago, Provident Hospital. Wells, writer Richard Wright, and poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Forty-seventh Street, in particular, was a lively center of music and nightlife.Īmong the influential African Americans who called Bronzeville home are dancer Katherine Dunham, sociologist Horace Clayton, journalist and activist Ida B. ![]() Black entertainers such as Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, and more had a space to call their own at the Regal Theater. ![]() The depth of its influence did not stop at popular nightlife Bronzeville inspired a host of great artists and jazz, blues, and gospel musicians. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, James Gentry, a theater editor at the black newspaper The Chicago Bee, suggested that the community be called Bronzeville to reflect the skin tone of the neighborhood’s residents.Īrt was and remains part of what gives Bronzeville its identity. Though the city largely denied them goods and services, the residents created their own epicenter of business and culture. By 1920, 50,000 black migrants had come to Chicago in search of opportunity and to escape the Jim Crow South. ![]() The neighborhood, located on the South Side within the Grand Boulevard and Douglas community areas, was the core of what was once called the “Black Belt” –– originally a narrow stretch of State Street. With bustling nightlife, dining, dancing, music, shopping, and a community of revered thought leaders, Bronzeville was the center of “The Black Metropolis” from the 1920s to the 1950s.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |