Bronzeville is a predominately African American neighborhood located in the Douglas and Grand Boulevard community areas on the South Side of the City of Chicago.
| Bronzeville | |
|---|---|
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| Continent | North America |
| Location | United States of America, Chicago, Illinois |
| Interests | Victory Monument, Ida B. Wells Home, DuSable Museum of African American History, Illinois Institute of Technology, Thompson-Hiser University, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ivory Blaque, Max Bishop |
| Population | Americans
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History[]
Bronzeville is situated around the Illinois Institute of Technology and Illinois College of Optometry. It is accessible via the Green and Red lines of the Chicago Transit Authority, as well as the Metra Electric District Main Line. In 2011 a new Metra station, Jones/Bronzeville Station, opened to serve the neighborhood on the Rock Island and planned SouthEast Service.
Victory Monument
In the early 20th century, Bronzeville was known as the "Black Metropolis", one of the nation's most significant landmarks of African-American urban history. Between 1910 and 1920, during the peak of the "Great Migration", the population of the area increased dramatically when thousands of African Americans escaped the oppression of the South and emigrated to Chicago in search of industrial jobs. The Wabash YMCA is considered the first African-American Y in the U.S. It continues as a center today due to the continued support of many of the Black churches in the area. The Wabash YMCA is widely credited as the birthplace of what would later become Black History Month. Noted people associated with the development of the area include: Andrew "Rube" Foster, founder of the Negro National Baseball League; Ida B. Wells, a civil rights activist, journalist and co-organizer of the NAACP; Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, artist, author, and one of the co-founders of the DuSable Museum of African American History; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman pilot; Gwendolyn Brooks, 1985 United States Poet Laureate, 1968 Poet Laureate of Illinois, and first African-American recipient of the Pulitzer Prize; actresses Marla Gibbs and Jennifer Beals; acclaimed R&B singers Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls; cornet player and jazz bandleader King Oliver; and Oliver's protégé, legendary jazz musician, trumpeter and bandleader Louis Armstrong and his then wife, pianist, composer and bandleader Lil Hardin Armstrong, both of whom lived in Bronzeville on E. 44th Street and performed at many of the area's night clubs, including the Sunset Cafe and Dreamland Cafe. The neighborhood contains the Chicago Landmark Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District. 47th Street was and remains the hub of the Bronzeville neighborhood. In the early 21st century, it has started to regain some of its former glory. Gone for good is the Regal Theater (demolished in 1973), where many great performers took the stage. From the 1940s and 1960s, high-rise public housing projects were constructed in the area, which were managed by the Chicago Housing Authority.The largest complex was the Robert Taylor Homes, which were beset with social problems exacerbated by poverty and poor design. These were demolished in the late 1990s and early 21st century. The name was first used in 1930 by James J. Gentry, a local theater editor for the Chicago Bee publication. It refers to the brown skin color of African Americans, who predominated as residents in that area. It has become common usage throughout the decades.
Ida B. Wells Home
Illinois Institute of Technology (Main Building).
Bronzeville is the residence for many prominent characters and businesses within the Ivoryverse including: Max Bishop , Antoine Valentine , Club Fasination (formerly The Blue Rose), Zaji Laveau , Xenith LaCroix , Gregor Kolinski , Carl Babineaux and Babineaux' Cajun and Creole Kitchen. It is also an area frequented by Ivory Blaque .