Tag Archive
Toward a Future’s Past
As the head of both the Black Metropolis Convention and Tourism Council and the Bronzeville Online Visitor Information Center, Harold Lucas has worked, he says, to ensure that Bronzeville is recognized as the city’s “premiere destination for African-American tourism and cultural life.” But his is not the only vision of the neighborhood on display... »
Bronzeville
New boutiques, restaurants, and hangouts have gradually begun to emerge out of the buildings that once held the thriving Black Metropolis. While the golden days of poets and jazz are gone, today a bold community is committed to keeping its history, independence, and ingenuity alive. »
The Gospel According to Barrett
The Life Center Church of God in Christ sits on the corner of Garfield and Indiana, just east of the honorary two-and-a-half block Rev. T.L. Barrett, Jr. Blvd. The boulevard’s namesake is sitting in a pew close to the pulpit. »
Community Writes: South Siders put their stories in print with the Neighborhood Writing Alliance
“So what do you guys think?” asks Tony Lindsay, the workshop leader for the King Library’s branch of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance. The question is met by wordless expressions of approval, and a few satisfied “phews” and “yeahs!” With the immaculate intonation of an audio book narrator, Lorraine Minor has just read her new... »
Big Trouble at Little Shimer: What’s happening to Chicago’s Great Books college?
Last Sunday afternoon, most of Shimer College crowded into a small room to discuss the future of their school. The Assembly—a democratic body in which all students, faculty, staff, and trustees have equal votes—has traditionally been the moral authority of the college, while legal authority rests with the Board of Trustees. In last Sunday’s... »
Good and Plenty: Abundance Bakery takes the cake
The caramel cupcakes at Bronzeville’s Abundance Bakery are so loaded with frosting that they rest upside down on their muffin-tops to support it all. Eating one is a gooey affair that requires a spoon, not to mention a glass of milk and possibly a friend to help. The cupcakes, like most everything at the... »
AREA Party
The South Side Community Art Center is a surprise at first glance: its name is far more industrial and blocky than the Bronzeville gallery’s renovated location. Last Sunday, the impression of strangeness was only increased as the center played host to the ninth release party of AREA Chicago, the twice-yearly publication of the arts... »
Best of the South Side 2009: Bronzeville
Bronzeville takes great pride in its history as the “Black Metropolis.” A destination for Southern blacks moving north during the Great Migration, it became the cultural nucleus of Chicago’s African-American community, nurturing such greats as Ida B. Wells, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sam Cooke, and Louis Armstrong, as well as the groundbreaking black newspaper the Chicago... »
