The 1933 Chicago World's Fair by Cheryl R. Ganz

Author:Cheryl R. Ganz [Ganz, Cheryl R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, United States, 20th Century, State & Local, Midwest (IA; IL; IN; KS; MI; MN; MO; ND; NE; OH; SD; WI)
ISBN: 9780252078521
Google: u2UNe2gpkksC
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2012-01-06T00:27:42+00:00

6

African Americans and the Du Sable Legacy

The Century of Progress should and must also show the progress we have made. … Black citizens are advised to go wherever there is anything to be seen or to be learned, if they so desire. Permit no one to Jim Crow you or to discriminate against you.

—Chicago Defender

On April 3, 1928, fourteen African American women met at the home of Annie E. Oliver to hear a talk by Robert S. Abbott, editor of the African American newspaper the Chicago Defender.1 Abbott spoke about black men in history and promoted a project to further the recognition of Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable as the founder and pioneer settler of Chicago. Du Sable had established a trading post at the mouth of the Chicago River about 1774 and lived there with his family until 1800. His father was from a French Quebec mercantile family, and his mother was a black slave. Two events in 1928 had raised interest in Du Sable: the publication of new research on his residence and the announcement that the city of Chicago planned to stage a world’s fair in 1933. The convergence of the two led Oliver and her group to establish the National De Saible Memorial Society that evening.

Oliver—an educator, beauty culturist, and active clubwoman—sought widespread recognition and respectability for her race and community beyond Chicago’s South Side. By founding the National De Saible Memorial Society, she and the other clubwomen created a safe haven where members honed their professional skills while striving to achieve their goal: to create a memorial for Chicago’s first citizen and businessman and simultaneously underscore the importance of the African American community to the progress of Chicago. Using the power of place, public conduct, print, and language, Oliver and other members of the society sparked a public dialogue that elevated Du Sable to his rightful place as a key historical figure in Chicago history. At the same time, they reinforced Chicago’s African American community’s claim to a place in the city’s social, cultural, political, and economic future.2 They succeeded in building a replica of the Du Sable cabin at the 1933 Chicago world’s fair when other African American organizations had failed to unify behind a representative project and raise the necessary funds.

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