Before emancipation, Chicago was famously a pivotal stop-off on the Underground Railroad. The city then transformed into an attractive safe haven for hundreds of thousands of Black families escaping the racism and violence of the Jim Crow South during the Great Migration. Though the Second City served as a place where new lives were built and new futures were imagined, for many African American Chicagoans, the subsequent decades also brought tremendous racial and economic tension, violence, systematic disenfranchisement, and major setbacks. Even so, a rising tide of iconic figures were brave enough to pave treacherous paths to fight for change and better themselves and their communities. “Really important people from elsewhere decided to come to Chicago early in their lives because that’s where the action was—from Ida B. Wells, to Nat King Cole, to Louis Armstrong,” notes Goodman.
Today, you can find evidence of Chicago’s storied Black history all across the city—from plaques, busts, and statues dotting the sidewalks and boulevards to black and white photographs hanging on the walls of blues clubs and community centers. But really, the city’s history lives in its people, in bus drivers, museum curators, activists, tour guides, city officials, even our own relatives. To celebrate and honor Black history in the Windy City, we asked Goodman to name 13 standout destinations where you can get up close and personal with some of the incredible contributions Black Chicagoans have made over the years, while never forgetting that the fight for racial equity and justice remains a pressing battle.
