Welcome to the Chicago History Month Blog!!!!

Chicago History Month™ 

March is Chicago History Month!

For information, email: info@chicagohistorymonth.com

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I Am Black Chicago by The Original Harold Lee Rush

I am Black Chicago
Born on the southside
Flavored with the west-side
Footprints on the north side
A Provident baby
Delivered by dr steptoe
Went to school in a willis wagon
And 6 or 7 grammer schools
From shoop to burnside to lewis-champlain
Hung out at the YMCA
Learned to shoot pool at the BBF
Got fifty-leven cousins all over Chi-town
Some of them were the true OGBs
(original gang-bangers, back in the day)
growing up Black in Chicago
I know what it meant
To get out of cicero before dark
To get off the L downtown
And have the po-leece jack you up
I remember when we couldnt go to
Marshall Fields, Carson Pirie Scott or Sears & Roebuck
I laughed my troubles away at Riverview
(way before Go Cart Land & Fun Town)
listened to the poets and drummers
as they Pointed to the Afro-Arts
before there was Earth, Wind and Fire
there was Artistic Heritage Ensemble
when Amazon and Hiddekel were learning how to braid
when Darlene Blackburn was just starting to dance
when OBASI came on the scene
when the Bud Billiken Parade was Black folks
(and mickey mouse wouldnt be caught dead in washington park)
and blue lights in the basement quarter parties
is where I first learned how to grind
and got fonky with James Browns cold sweat
drinking white port and kool-aid
smokin reefer and doo-whoppin under the viaduct
going to Lems for some tips at 2AM
and throwing up at 4
being gouster or ivy league
working at 63rd and halsted
sneaking in the show
puttin balloons on the spokes of our bikes
and riding up and down the ramps
of the dan ryan before it opened
seeing the 5 Stairsteps beat the Jackson 5
at the Regal Theatre talent shows
ditching classes by hiding out in the oldest parts
of the castle of Englewood

I am Black Chicago
Where Soul Train started
Where Chaka Kanye West come from
Where Quincy Jones sat at the feet of the elders
In Bronzevilles international music colleges
Where you can jet to ebony to defend her
Who walks around all day with nothing on but
W-V-O-N
the voice of the negro/nation
Gwen Brooks sprang from the breast of us
Harold Washington spoke to the best in us
the policy kings organized the rest of us
and the mobs have truly tested us
tried to turn our heroes into dust to dust
stole our history-left us pixie dust
but they never really busted us
where we used to own the vote
where we used to hold the note
where we used to sail our boat
where we put fur to coat
I am Black Chicago
Africa was my mother
DuSable was my father
I have family all over america
And you may even be kin to me
This is where Charlie chewed
Where Nat Cole kinged
Where Joe Louis scronched
Where Lena horned and Billie holidaid
Where Ernie banked
Where Oscar browned
Where Jerry butlered
Where the Duke was earled
Where Yvonne danieled
And the Chi-Lites seen her
Where engle wooded
Where princeton parked
Where chester fielded
Where rose landed
Where cottage groved
Where altgeld gardened
Where spooks sit by the door
And Pervis dont want to talk to no mens
I am Black Chicago
From the lakefront all the way to ford city
From heavenston down to cal city
From maywood to blue island
Thats me in gary and over in k-town
This is where freedom rang
When Mahalia sang
Where GoodFellows clubbed
And schoolteachers subbed
Where thousands have passed thru the cook county jail
And the almighty hawk’s told many a tale
Where Dr Margaret told us children we were Black
And carried a whole museum on her back
Im the projects and the Globetrotters
Im baptist and catholic and sanctified
And the Nation of Islam
I am the center of Chicago
And the soul of your life
I am Black Chicago

—Harold Lee Rush–©2006

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How Chicago’s Neighborhoods Got Their Names

It’s often said that “Chicago is a city of neighborhoods.” This may seem redundant—isn’t every city a city of neighborhoods?—but Chicago really is a big, wonderful amalgamation of unique enclaves. Where do the names for all these neighborhoods come from? We sought to find out.
Keep in mind that there are at least 200 neighborhoods in Chicago. While this list is extensive, it isn’t absolute. For example, some areas were left off because they were obvious extensions of other neighborhoods (hello, West Rogers Park), while others lacked reliable info (or any information at all).
http://mentalfloss.com/article/55060/how-chicagos-neighborhoods-got-their-names

info@CHICAGOHISTORYMONTH.com

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Chicago History Month GoFundMe

March is Chicago History Month

Chicago History Month GoFundMe

Chicago History Month needs a professional inter-active website for mass participation. The money raised will be used to build the website and to promote the mission of Chicago History Month.

Chicago History Month Video 2

The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837.
AKA : “Chi-town,” “Windy City,” “City of the Big Shoulders,” and “Second City.”
Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the third most populous city in the United States, with approximately 2.8 million residents.
March has been designated as Chicago History Month by Harold Lee Rush, creator of Chicago History Month. In recognition and celebration of CHM, all Chicago is invited to participate, in whatever form and fashion chosen. Schools, churches, community and social organizations, senior, youth groups and individuals are urged to have events and/or create displays that highlight some aspect of Chicago’s rich history and people.
Please feel free to comment and share photographs as members of the cause – To Recognize and Celebrate Chicago History Month!
Join the Cause at Facebook: http://www.causes.com/ChiHistMonth

March is Chicago History Month

March is Chicago History Month

The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837.
AKA : “Chi-town,” “Windy City,” “City of the Big Shoulders,” and “Second City.”
Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the third most populous city in the United States, with approximately 2.8 million residents.

March has been designated as Chicago History Month by Harold Lee Rush, creator of Chicago History Month. In recognition and celebration of  CHM, all Chicago is invited to participate, in whatever form and fashion chosen. Schools, churches, community and social organizations, senior, youth groups and individuals are urged to have events and/or create displays that highlight some aspect of Chicago’s rich history and people. 

Please feel free to comment – To Recognize and Celebrate Chicago History Month!

For more information and/or to offer suggestions/resources:

info@CHICAGOHISTORYMONTH.com

March is Chicago History Month

Post your favorite Chicago Story in celebration of Chicago History Month

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Chicago Firsts

The world’s first Ferris wheel was created for Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. Pictured is the Ferris wheel at the city’s Navy Pier.

Des Plaines, Ill., became home to the nation’s first McDonald’s franchise on April 15, 1955.

Ike Sewell and Richard Novaretti are credited with coming up with the world’s first artery-clogging, delicious deep dish pizza in Chicago at their Pizzeria Uno in 1943

— chef Rudy Malnati likely had something to do with the invention as well

Chicago has long been the world’s capital of pinball manufacturing. Raymond Maloney, later of Bally
Manufacturing Company, is credited with inventing “Ballyhoo,” the pinball machine that spurred on the games’ popularity, in the 1930s.

The game of softball is said to have originated in Chicago in 1887. The pictured monument in Bronzeville commemorates the feat.

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/04/chicagos-175th-birthday-1_n_1319329.html)