DuSable to Obama: Chicago's Black Metropolis

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THE BIGGEST SECRET IN CHICAGO IS THAT CHICAGO WAS FOUNDED BY A BLACK MAN. UNBELIEVABLE! >> BLA CHICAGO COMPLIES THE CITY, WITHIN A CITY. >> A PLACE WHERE BLACKS COULD COME TOGETHER IN FELLOWSHIP. (CROWD) WE WANT HAROLD! >> THIS WILL BE A LITTLE CONTROVERSIAL. >> I MARCHED WITH DOCTOR KING IN GAGE PARK. >> IT'S MORE FEROCIOUS THAN IT HAD BEEN DOWN SOUTH. >> HELLO CHICAGO! >> BARACK OBAMA'S RISE IS SOMETHING THAT IS HARD TO IMAGINE IN ANY PLACE BUT CHICAGO. >> ONLY OUT OF CHICAGO. >> (ANNOUNCER) THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE FOLLOWING. AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION, FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU. THANK YOU. â™ª THIS IS NO ORDINARY STORY, â™ª â™ª YOU SEE. â™ª â™ª THIS IS A TALE ABOUT â™ª â™ª A BIG SMALL TOWN. â™ª â™ª A TOWN THAT SOMEHOW SITS â™ª â™ª IN THE CENTER OF A NATION, â™ª â™ª THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, â™ª â™ª THE CENTER OF THE MAP. â™ª >> THE BIGGEST SECRET IN CHICAGO IS THAT CHICAGO WAS FOUNDED BY A BLACK MAN. â™ª A GANGSTER'S PARADISE THAT'S â™ª HOME OF THE HIGHEST â™ª â™ª CONCENTRATION OF BLACKS. â™ª >> JEAN BAPTISTE POINT DUSABLE, WE KNOW, WAS DEFINITELY THE FIRST TO SETTLE HERE. >> UNBELIEVABLE, DUSABLE BUILT THE FIRST HOUSE HERE; HE OPENED THE FIRST TRADING POST HERE. >> HE WAS THE FIRST CATHOLIC AND THE FIRST PERMANENT NON-INDIGENOUS SETTLER IN THE AREA AND HE TOOK A WIFE FROM AMONG THE POTAWATOMI PEOPLE. >> AND THE FACT THAT WE DIDN'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE IS ALMOST MAGICAL. >> SOMETIME AROUND 1770 DUSABLE BUILT A HOMESTEAD IN THE AREA WE REFER TO AS THE TRIBUNE PLAZA, PIONEER COURT NOW. >> HE'S A HERO, YOU KNOW. THIS IS WHY WE'RE PUTTING A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF HIM UP, HE'S A HEROIC FIGURE. â™ª A BLACK MAN FOUNDED â™ª â™ª THIS ORGY â™ª â™ª AND I THANK DUSABLE â™ª â™ª FOR THE POSITIONING BECAUSE â™ª â™ª THE SPOT WHERE â™ª â™ª HE SET UP SHOP â™ª â™ª LATER BECAME MY HOME. â™ª >> HE HAD TO BE STRONG. HE HAD TO PERSEVERE UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES BECAUSE HE'S IN THIS AREA WHERE THE BRITISH AND THE FRENCH ARE TRYING TO CONTROL. >> DUSABLE SEEMED TO HAVE HAD A BEARING ABOUT HIM THAT WAS BOTH CHARISMATIC AND DIPLOMATIC. >> HE CREATED THE FOUNDATION FOR WHAT WE KNOW AS CHICAGO. >> HAVING SOME SORT OF DREAM OF WHAT THIS MAN LOOKED LIKE, THIS MYTH, THIS LORE THAT WE TALK ABOUT SO MUCH HELPS PEOPLE SOLIDIFY IN THEIR MINDS, AN IMAGE OF HIM AND I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT. >> A MAN OF PART FRENCH, PART WEST AFRICAN DESCENT BY THE NAME OF JEAN BAPTISTE POINTE DUSABLE WORKED HIS WAY UP TO THE FRENCH CONTROLLED MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TO A PLACE, THAT THE NATIVE AMERICANS REFERRED TO AS "CHECAGOU". >> (NARRATOR) NATIVE AMERICANS WERE FOND OF SAYING, "THE FIRST "WHITE MAN TO SETTLE IN CHICAGO, WAS A NEGRO." >> PEOPLE OF COLOR; BLACKS WHO HAD NEVER BEEN IN SLAVERY, WHO HAD LEFT THE EAST COAST AND COME JUST AS THE WHITE SETTLERS DID, TO FIND A MORE PROSPEROUS OPPORTUNITY. >> DUSABLE WAS VERY MUCH IN THE FRENCH INFLUENCE AND BROUGHT EUROPEAN IDEAS OF COMMERCE INTO THE AREA. HE TRADED WITH THE INDIANS. >> HE HAD GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE INDIANS ESPECIALLY THE POTAWATOMI. >> HE SOLD BAKERY GOODS AND OTHER FINISHED ITEMS TO THE NATIVE AMERICANS. >> BUT HE WAS THE FIRST MAN, BLACK, RED, OR WHITE TO SEE THE COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES OF THE PLACE AND TO VOICE THE CITIES MOTTO OF "I WILL." >> HE DIDN'T LIVE IN A QUOTE UNQUOTE RUDE CABIN AND THEY WERE SMALLER STRUCTURES AROUND THAT MAIN BUILDING. >> CHICAGO'S FIRST WHOLESALER. >> IT WAS QUITE A COMPLEX FOR THE TIME. >> FIRST MEAT PACKER AND FIRST MERCHANT PRINCE. >> HE BECAME PART OF THE ENVIRONMENT HERE IN CHICAGO. >> INDEED, DUSABLE WAS THE FIRST CHICAGOAN, IN FACT, AND A MAN WORTHY OF THE DEED. WELL I CAN'T READ IT ALL BUT YOU NOW, THAT'S A PART TO START OFF WITH. >> THE CITY ITSELF WAS FOUNDED BY AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENTREPRENEUR SO FROM DAY ONE A CULTURE THAT ACCEPTED THE NOTION THAT AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN COULD BE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PERSON, THAT FOUNDATION WAS LAID. >> (NARRATOR) JEAN BAPTISTE POINTE DUSABLE DIED IN ST. LOUIS AND IS BURIED IN A CATHOLIC CEMETERY THERE. >> IN ORDER TO BECOME AN ENSLAVED AFRICAN THE FIRST THING THAT HAPPENED WAS TO ERASE YOUR MIND. MAKE YOU TOTALLY DEPENDENT UPON THE PEOPLE THAT SNATCHED YOU FROM ANOTHER CONTINENT AND BROUGHT YOU TO THIS CONTINENT. >> OUT OF THIS NEED TO HAVE SLAVERY WITHIN A DEMOCRACY, THEY HAD TO COME UP WITH A VERY CREATIVE MARKETING CAMPAIGN AND OUT OF THAT CAME THE CREATION OF THIS WHOLE MYTH OF BLACK INFERIORITY. FROM THERE, CAME THE CONSTANT BOMBARDMENT OF IMAGES TO PROVE THAT AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE NOT HUMAN. >> WE GOTTA MAKE YOU INTO THE NEGRO, AND THAT'S ESSENTIALLY WHAT HAPPENED. >> CHICAGO HAD A NEW ENGLAND ATTITUDE TOWARDS SLAVERY AND THAT WAS ANTI-SLAVERY. ABOLITIONIST SENTIMENT WAS PREVALENT HERE. CHICAGO ACQUIRED THE REPUTATION OF BEING A "NEGRO LOVING TOWN" OR A QUOTE UNQUOTE "SINK HOLE OF ABOLITIONISM." OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY DID NOT NECESSARILY MEAN COMMITMENT TOWARDS RACIAL EQUALITY. AND IN ILLINOIS, THE LAND OF LINCOLN WAS ONE OF THE PLACES IN WHICH THIS CONTRADICTION WAS MOST PRONOUNCED. >> AND THE BLACK CODE WAS PUT INTO PLACE TO KEEP BLACKS FROM EVER MOVING UP FROM THEIR CASTE STATUS. >> (NARRATOR) ACCORDING TO THE ILLINOIS BLACK CODES, NEGROES COULD NOT ENTER THE STATE WITHOUT PAYING A FEE. AFTER BEING IN THE STATE FOR TEN DAYS, A ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR FINE WAS ASSESSED. THOSE UNABLE TO PAY THE FINE WOULD BE SOLD INTO INDENTURED SERVITUDE. THE CODES ALSO STATED THAT BLACKS COULD NOT OWN PROPERTY OR BRING LAW SUITS; COULD NOT TESTIFY AGAINST WHITES; COULD NOT MAKE CONTRACTS. NO MORE THAN THREE BLACK PERSONS COULD CONGREGATE OR DANCE WITHOUT A WHITE PERSON PRESENT. >> ILLINOIS WAS A FREE STATE WITH A LOWER CASE "F" RATHER THAN, YOU KNOW, FREE WITH A CAPITAL "F." >> JOHN JONES THE TAILOR IS FAMOUS AS THE KIND OF THE LEADING BLACK CITIZEN OF CHICAGO. >> WHO HAD PAPERS OF FREEDOM, HE PROVIDED CLOTHES FOR THE VERY WEALTHIEST OF CHICAGOANS. >> AND HE WAS THE FIRST COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF COLOR AND OWNED A BUNCH OF PROPERTY DOWNTOWN. >> AND HE BUILT A TWO-STORY BUILDING AT THE CORNER OF WASHINGTON AND DEARBORN IN THE 1850S. JOHN JONES WAS THE MOST PROMINENT LEADER IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY AND HE WAS ALSO VERY, VERY ACTIVE IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY CRUSADE AND WITH THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. >> (NARRATOR) TRAVELING AN ESCAPE ROUTE CALLED THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, ENSLAVED AFRICANS SOUGHT FREEDOM. >> MOST OF THE PEOPLE HAD TO ASSESS THE BEST TIME TO ESCAPE. PERHAPS WATCHING AND WAITING FOR YEARS. >> WE COULD SPEAK TO EACH OTHER IN ONE LANGUAGE AND THEN THOSE WHO WERE OF EUROPEAN DESCENT JUST SAID ISN'T IT NICE WHAT THEY'RE SAYING, BUT IN REALITY THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT LIBERATION. >> THEY WERE LEAVING FAMILY AND FRIENDS, AND ALL THE WHOLE LIFE AS THEY HAD EVER KNOWN IT, BEHIND. AND THEY'D SET OUT FOR THE UNKNOWN. >> (NARRATOR) TO HELP THEM NAVIGATE THE TREACHEROUS JOURNEY, ENSLAVED AFRICANS DEVELOPED A SOPHISTICATED SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION. >> HIDDEN CODES IN QUILTS HELP TO LEAD SLAVES TO FREEDOM THROUGH THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. >> SO WHEN WE SAID, "WADE IN THE WATER" WE WEREN'T JUST TALKING ABOUT MOSES, WE WERE ALSO TALKING ABOUT THERE'S A DOG CHASING YOU, YOU NEED TO WADE THROUGH THE WATER. WHEN WE SAID, "STEAL AWAY JESUS" WE WEREN'T JUST TALKING ABOUT, "ISN'T IT NICE TO BE WITH JESUS", BUT THAT IT'S TIME TO LEAVE THE PLANTATION TONIGHT. >> THEY WERE TAKING THEIR LIVES IN THEIR HANDS. >> (NARRATOR) BUT THEY KEPT COMING. >> WE'VE GOT THE SECOND HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SITES. >> SOUTHERN SCORN FOR THE ENTIRE NORTH, AND CHICAGO IN PARTICULAR WAS SUCH THAT BY 1850, THE CONGRESS HAD BEEN PERSUADED AND FORCED INTO PASSING A FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. >> (NARRATOR) THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT WROTE RACIAL PROFILING INTO LAW. IT REQUIRED THAT ESCAPED ENSLAVED AFRICANS BE CAUGHT AND RETURNED TO THEIR OWNERS. AND THERE WERE INCENTIVES. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WERE FINED ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR NOT ARRESTING SUSPECTED ESCAPEES OR OVER $20,000 IN TODAY'S DOLLARS AND THEY EARNED BONUSES FOR CAPTURING SLAVES. >> AND THIS WAS VIEWED AS SUCH A THREAT THAT THE BLACKS OF CHICAGO ORGANIZED AND ARMED THEMSELVES TO RESIST UNJUST CAPTURE. THE WAY THE LAW WAS SET UP, EVEN WHITE CITIZENS WHO HAD NO INTEREST IN SLAVERY, COULD BE FORCED TO JOIN IN THE SLAVE HUNT. >> THE CIVIL WAR STARTED IN 1861, AND THE BLACKS WHO HAD BEEN COUNTING ON THE HAND OF THE LORD TO MAKE A CHANGE IN THEIR FORTUNES WERE ELATED TO SEE THAT THE WAR PROBABLY WAS GOING TO BE WON BY THE NORTH AND THAT THE ISSUE OF ABOLISHING SLAVERY COULDN'T BE DISMISSED. >> (NARRATOR) WHEN BLACKS WERE ABLE TO BEGIN SERVING IN THE CIVIL WAR, SOLDIERS SIGNED UP AT JOHN JONES' TAILORING BUSINESS. THEY JOINED THE 29TH REGIMENT OF THE USCT THE UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS. >> AND THOSE MEN OF THE 29TH, FOUGHT AGAINST THE FORCES OF ROBERT E. LEE, ALL THE WAY TO HIS SURRENDER IN APPOMATTOX IN APRIL, 1865. AND WITH THAT, SLAVERY WAS OVER. >> (NARRATOR) EVEN THOUGH THE 29TH INFANTRY REGIMENT WAS DISBANDED AFTER THE WAR, THE DESIRE TO SERVE REMAINED. >> THEY WERE PROUD TO BE IN THE ARMY. THEY WANTED TO HAVE OFFICERS, BLACK OFFICERS, THAT WOULD BE, SO THEY DEMANDED THAT THEY HAVE A REGIMENT THAT WAS DOMINANTLY BLACK AND BLACK OFFICERS. >> BY 1894, THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY GRANTED BLACKS THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE A BATTALION, TO BE A PART OF THE ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD AND THAT BATTALION WITHIN A COUPLE YEARS BECAME A FULL REGIMENT OF 1,000 OR MORE MEN. >> A LOT OF BLACKS VOLUNTEERED TO BE GOOD AMERICANS, THEY WERE WILLING TO PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE. IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, THERE WERE ABOUT 12 BLACKS WHO GOT THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR; IN THE CIVIL WAR, THERE WERE 17 WHO GOT THIS CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR, AND THAT MAY BE LITTLE KNOWN HISTORY BUT THAT IS A FACT. >> A WRITER ON CHICAGO HISTORY WAS ASTOUNDED SEVERAL YEARS AGO TO HEAR THAT THERE WERE BLACKS HERE AT THE FIRE...AND HEROES OF THE FIRE...IN PARTICULAR, THE HUDLUN FAMILY. >> OH, JOSEPH HUDLUN! THE HUDLUN'S HOME WAS A MECCA OF SOCIAL AND CIVIC ACTIVITY. AND OF COURSE IT WAS AN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STOP. >> (NARRATOR) JOSEPH HUDLUN, ONE OF CHICAGO'S FIRST BLACK HOMEOWNERS, WORKED AT THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE FOR FORTY YEARS. >> RAN AND GATHERED UP AS MANY DOCUMENTS AS HE COULD AND SAFELY STORED THEM IN HIS HOME. >> HIS WIFE ANNA HUDLUN WAS KNOWN AS THE FIRE ANGEL. >> THEY TOOK IN FOUR OR FIVE FAMILIES, A COUPLE WHITES, A COUPLE OF BLACKS, THE WIFE WAS DECLARED HERO OF THE FIRE, HE WAS A HERO OF THE FIRE, AND THE BOARD OF TRADE HAD A PORTRAIT MOUNTED OF JOSEPH HUDLUN IN ITS BOARDROOM FOR MANY, MANY YEARS. >> THAT'S WHO THE HUDLUN'S ARE. >> THE NUMBERS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO WERE LIVING IN ILLINOIS WERE QUITE MINISCULE, A FEW THOUSAND AT THIS POINT. YOU KNOW IT'S PARTLY ABOUT ESTABLISHING WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED A KIND OF PIONEER GENERATION. CERTAINLY PEOPLE LIKE IDA WELLS BARNETT, IN THE CASE OF WELLS, YOU KNOW, SOMEONE WHO WAS ALREADY SORT OF VERY RENOWNED AND INDEED NOTORIOUS NATIONALLY FOR HER OUTSPOKENNESS. SOMEONE WHO IN A SENSE, WHO WAS TOO RADICAL FOR THE NAACP, THIS WAS SOMEONE WHO FOUND A HOME WITHIN CHICAGO. >> (NARRATOR) HER HUSBAND, FERDINAND BARNETT, FOUNDED CHICAGO'S FIRST BLACK NEWSPAPER, "THE CONSERVATOR." OTHER PIONEERS WERE ATTRACTED TO THIS SMALL, BUT VIBRANT COMMUNITY. EMMA REYNOLDS, A YOUNG BLACK WOMAN FROM OHIO, CAME TO STUDY NURSING. WHEN SHE WAS DENIED ADMISSION TO NURSING SCHOOL IN CHICAGO, SHE TURNED TO NOTED SURGEON DR. DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS FOR ASSISTANCE. THIS LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PROVIDENT HOSPITAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL. >> DR. DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS SAID, "WE MUST AS BLACK PEOPLE, PROVIDE FOR OUR OWN NEEDS, "AND WE NEED A HOSPITAL". AND IN 1891, UNDER WILLIAMS' LEADERSHIP, PROVIDENT HOSPITAL OPENED ITS DOORS ALONG DEARBORN STREET, A COUPLE MILES SOUTH OF THE LOOP. THE HOSPITAL, OF COURSE, WAS IN THE BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THERE WERE BLACK AND WHITE PATIENTS. >> (NARRATOR) CHIEF SURGEON DR. DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS, PERFORMED THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL OPEN HEART SURGERY IN 1893. >> A MAN WAS BROUGHT IN WITH A KNIFE WOUND IN HIS HEART. HE SUCCESSFULLY SEWED UP THIS MAN'S HEART. THE MAN LIVED FOR OVER A DECADE. >> (NARRATOR) DR. WILLIAMS' GROUNDBREAKING SURGERY BROUGHT ATTENTION TO THE HOSPITAL AND ESTABLISHED PROVIDENT AS THE PREMIER MEDICAL FACILITY AND NURSING SCHOOL FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS. >> (NARRATOR) IN 1893, CHICAGO HOSTED AMERICA'S SECOND WORLD'S FAIR, THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. >> THERE WERE A LOT OF DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH AFRICAN AMERICANS FOUND THEMSELVES ABSORBED AND ENGAGED WITH THE CULTURE OF THE EXPOSITION. >> AND FOR YEARS, PEOPLE BELIEVED, AND STILL BELIEVE INCORRECTLY, THAT BLACKS WEREN'T A PART OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. THEY WERE. >> BLACK PEOPLE WORKED THERE. >> SERVICE AND DOMESTIC WORK. THERE WAS SOME WORK ON THE FAIR GROUNDS FOR BLACK MEN WHO SEEMED TO BE A BLACK VERSION OF THE FAIR'S POLICE FORCE ASSISTING BLACKS WHO WERE COMING IN FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, TO ENJOY THE WORLD'S FAIR. >> THE WORLD'S PARLIAMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN, SIX BLACK WOMEN SPOKE. >> ALL AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. NOW WHAT I DIDN'T MENTION WAS YOU COULD ENJOY YOURSELF JUST STROLLING ALONG THE FAIR GROUNDS OR YOU COULD ENJOY YOURSELF IN AN AREA ADJACENT TO THE FORMAL FAIRGROUNDS, CALLED THE MIDWAY. YOU COULD SEE ZULUS FIGHT THE BRITISH IN A MOCK BATTLE. >> SCOTT JOPLIN COMING UP AND PERFORMING RAGTIME MUSIC. >> OR YOU COULD STAY ON THE FAIRGROUNDS AND VISIT THE HAITIAN PAVILION, THE FIRST BUILDING BUILT ON THE FAIR GROUNDS WHERE YOU COULD MEET FREDERICK DOUGLASS. ALL OF THIS I THINK WAS VERY INTRIGUING AND FASCINATING AND ATTRACTIVE TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS WHO MADE THE TRIP TO VISIT THE EXPOSITION EVEN BEFORE IT BECOMES A MAJOR CITY OF MIGRATION. AFRICAN-AMERICANS SAW IN CHICAGO A NEW KIND OF PLACE TO SEE BLACK LIFE, KIND OF PRESENTING ITS FULL DIMENSIONS, AND WAS AN IMPORTANT INCENTIVE FOR PEOPLE TO THINK EVENTUALLY ABOUT RELOCATING TO CHICAGO. >> (NARRATOR) THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION DREW MANY AFRICAN AMERICANS TO CHICAGO INCLUDING A SOUTHERN MAN WHO WAS INSPIRED BY WHAT HE SAW AND HEARD. ROBERT SENGSTACKE ABBOTT DECIDED TO RELOCATE TO CHICAGO. HE SAW IT AS A PLACE OF GREAT OPPORTUNITY. HE ENROLLED IN KENT LAW SCHOOL, BUT AFTER GRADUATION COULDN'T FIND SUCCESS AS AN ATTORNEY. ABBOTT'S FRUSTRATION WOULD LEAD HIM TO PUBLISH A NEWSPAPER TO ADVOCATE FOR HIS PEOPLE. THE CHICAGO DEFENDER, FOUNDED IN 1905. THE DEFENDER COVERED THE NEWS OF CHICAGO'S BLACK BELT A NARROW STRIP OF LAND ONLY FOUR BLOCKS WIDE AND TWO AND A HALF MILES LONG SOUTH OF THE LOOP. THE PAPER PUBLISHED STORIES ABOUT ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE IN THE BLACK BELT INCLUDING THE ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT KNOWN AS "THE STROLL." FROM "THE STROLL" CAME NEW MUSIC AND OLD BEHAVIORS. MOST ESTABLISHMENTS FEATURED COLORED SECTIONS RELEGATING BLACKS TO THE WORST SEATS IN THE HOUSE. [PIANO MUSIC] >> MUSICALLY WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN CHICAGO WAS RAGTIME MUSIC. IN CHICAGO THERE WAS A SCENE ON THE SOUTHSIDE, THE PEKIN THEATER AT 27TH AND STATE WAS A MECCA OF BLACK ENTERTAINMENT ACTUALLY IN THE COUNTRY. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A SONG THAT WAS WRITTEN AT THE PEKIN THEATER. IT WAS WRITTEN FOR A PRODUCTION AT THE PEKIN THEATER BY JOE JORDAN AROUND 1906. IT'S CALLED "SWEETIE DEAR." [PIANO MUSIC] [PIANO MUSIC] >> POLICY KINGS. THE NUMBERS, WHICH CREATED A GREAT DEAL OF WEALTH. >> POLICY IS WHAT YOU KNOW TODAY AS THE STATE LOTTERY. ONLY IN THE FIRST HALF OF LAST CENTURY, IT WAS THE SINGLE BIGGEST ECONOMIC ENGINE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY. IT BEGAN WITH A GUY NAMED POLICY SAM YOUNG WHO CAME TO CHICAGO IN 1885. AND HE HAD BROUGHT THIS VERSION OF A NUMBERS GAME WITH HIM CALLED POLICY. >> (NARRATOR) POLICE WOULD DRIVE SAM YOUNG OFF THE STREET AND INTO "THE EMPORIUM," AN ELABORATE SALOON OWNED BY BLACK PRECINCT CAPTAIN JOHN "MUSHMOUTH" JOHNSON. KNOWN AS MUSHMOUTH FOR HIS CONSTANT USE OF PROFANITY, JOHNSON A MASTER POLITICIAN AND SKILLFUL BUSINESSMAN WAS ALSO KNOWN FOR HIS LEGENDARY GENEROSITY. >> SO WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT ARE MEN IN THOSE DAYS, WHO WERE KNOWN AS "RACE MEN". THESE WERE BASICALLY MEN WHO WERE ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF UPLIFTING THE BLACK RACE. >> THESE POLICY KINGS WERE NOT GANGSTERS. >> THE POLICY KINGS WERE NOT VIOLENT. >> A GANGSTER LIVES BY THE GUN AND USES THE GUN TO GET WHAT HE WANTS. A RACKETEER, WHICH WAS WHAT THE POLICY KINGS WERE, LIVED WITH A GUN TO PROTECT WHAT THEY HAVE. >> THE GREAT MIGRATION OCCURRED BETWEEN 1916 AND 1918. FIFTY THOUSAND ABLE-BODIED MEN AND WOMEN, AND SOME CHILDREN, FLOCKED TO CHICAGO TO WORK. >> ROBERT ABBOTT AND THE CHICAGO DEFENDER STIMULATED IT RAN GREAT BIG RED HEADLINES THAT SAID COME, COME, COME. >> BLACKS WERE COMING TO BE ABLE TO VOTE, TO BE ABLE TO HAVE MORE PROTECTION FROM THE VIOLENCE OF THE KU KLUX KLAN, AND FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO GET A BETTER EDUCATION. >> WE'RE THE SURVIVORS OF SLAVES. THEY SURVIVED THE SOUTH AND THEY MIGRATED WHEN THEY CAME UP THIS WAY THEY BROUGHT THAT SAME MENTALITY WITH THEM, WHICH WAS YOU KNOW, "NO MATTER HOW HARD IT IS, "WE ARE GOING TO BE ALRIGHT AND WE ARE GOING TO KEEP GOING." AND YOU HEAR THAT IN THE MUSIC. >> COUNT BASIE MADE A SONG, CREATED A SONG... [SINGING] "I'M GOING TO CHICAGO, SORRY I CAN'T TAKE YOU." HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD. HE WASN'T GOING TO PARIS... HE WASN'T GOING TO NEW YORK... HE WASN'T GOING TO LA. HE SAID, I'M GOING TO CHICAGO. >> (NARRATOR) ONE OF THE INSTITUTIONS AWAITING THE NEWCOMERS WAS THE WABASH Y. >> THE WABASH YMCA CAME INTO BEING BECAUSE WE WERE DENIED THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO WHITE, DOMINANT WHITE YMCA. >> IN 1915, CARTER G. WOODSON ORGANIZED THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE AND HISTORY, AT THE WABASH YMCA. >> (NARRATOR) WOODSON WAS ACCOMPANIED BY SOME OF CHICAGO'S INTELLECTUAL LEADERS, INCLUDING GEORGE C. HALL AND A. JACKSON. IN 1916, WOODSON FOUNDED THE PRESTIGIOUS "JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY" AT THE WABASH Y. >> "WE ARE CELEBRATING NEGRO HISTORY WEEK ..." >> WITHIN A DECADE, 1926, HE SAID, YOU KNOW WE NEED TO STUDY NEGRO HISTORY MORE INTENSELY AND LET'S DO IT IN A WEEK AND LET'S DO IT IN THE MONTH IN WHICH THE BIRTHDAYS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND FREDERICK DOUGLASS ARE CELEBRATED. SO, NEGRO HISTORY WEEK APPEARED. >> WHICH WE NOW CALL BLACK HISTORY MONTH. >> MY GRANDFATHER FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR I IN FRANCE IN A SITUATION WHERE HE COULDN'T RIDE ON THE BUS OR THE TRAIN AND IN WHICH EVEN THE US GENERAL.... >> JOHN BLACKJACK PERSHING. >> ...WHO WAS LEADING THE COMMAND IN WORLD WAR I DIDN'T WANT BLACK TROOPS. >> THEY HAD BEEN DENIED TO BE COMBAT TROOPS. >> THE FRENCH WERE GIVEN COMMANDING CONTROL OF THE BLACK AMERICAN TROOPS IN WORLD WAR I BECAUSE THE AMERICAS DIDN'T WANT ANY PARTS OF IT. >> ON THE FRONTLINE SUFFERED MORE CASUALTIES PERCENTAGE WISE THAN ANY OTHER UNIT. >> WORLD WAR I ENDED. TROOPS OF THE 8TH REGIMENT, WHO HAD BEEN SENT OVERSEAS AS THE FEDERALIZED 370TH INFANTRY UNIT, RETURNED HOME TO CHEERING CROWDS DOWN ON MICHIGAN AVE. >> (NARRATOR) SOUTH STATE STREET WAS IN ITS GLORY THEN. A TEAMING NEGRO STREET WITH CROWDED THEATERS, RESTAURANTS AND CABARETS. AN EXCITEMENT FROM NOON TO NOON, MIDNIGHT WAS LIKE DAY. THE STREET WAS FULL OF WORKERS AND GAMBLERS AND PROSTITUTES AND PIMPS. CHURCH FOLKS AND SINNERS. "THE FIRST SUNDAY I WAS IN TOWN "I WANDERED TOO FAR OUTSIDE "THE NEGRO DISTRICT, OVER BEYOND "WENTWORTH AND WAS SET UPON "AND BEATEN BY A GROUP OF WHITE "BOYS WHO SAID THEY DIDN'T ALLOW "NIGGERS IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD. "I CAME HOME WITH BOTH EYES "BLACKED AND A SWOLLEN JAW. "THAT WAS THE SUMMER BEFORE THE CHICAGO RIOTS." LANGSTON HUGHES. >> AND SOME OF THOSE SAME SOLDIERS THAT HAD BEEN CHEERED HAD TO FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES. >> THE CATALYST FOR THE RIOT OF 1919 WAS THE INCIDENT THAT TOOK PLACE OFF OF THE 29TH STREET BEACH IN WHICH EUGENE WILLIAMS, A YOUNG BLACK MAN, WAS STONED TO DEATH BY WHITES WHO WERE THROWING STONES FROM THE BEACH BECAUSE WILLIAMS AND HIS FRIENDS WERE SEEN TO HAVE CROSSED THE IMAGINARY LINE THAT DIVIDED THE WATER FROM BLACK TO WHITE IN TERMS OF WHO CAN SWIM IN WHAT AREA. >> MY FATHER MENTIONED IT TO ME A COUPLE OF TIMES. HE WAS THERE. PEOPLE WERE FIGHTING, BLACKS BEGAN FIGHTING THE WHITES, BUT THEN IT WAS CARRIED OVER INTO THE COMMUNITY. >> AND ALMOST EVERY CHICAGOAN OF NOTE HAS A STORY ABOUT TERROR, BUT ALSO OF BRAVERY DURING THE RIOT. >> I THINK IT LASTED MAYBE A WEEK. >> 38 PEOPLE WERE KILLED DURING THE RIOT 25 BLACKS, 13 WHITES. HUNDREDS WERE INJURED. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PROPERTY WERE DESTROYED AND IT COMPLETELY TARNISHED THE CITY'S IMAGE. MORE IMPORTANTLY, THE RIOT OF 1919 CEMENTED FEELINGS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY THAT RACIAL SOLIDARITY WAS A NECESSITY TO MAKE PROGRESS. >> (NARRATOR) FROM THIS UGLY CHAPTER CAME THE REALIZATION THAT BLACKS COULD REFUSE TO BE THE PASSIVE RECIPIENTS OF UNBRIDLED VIOLENCE. >> THE COMMISSION ON RACE RELATIONS IN CHICAGO WAS AN INQUEST THAT WAS PUT TOGETHER BY THE CITY GOVERNMENT. >> (NARRATOR) THE GROUP MADE 59 RECOMMENDATIONS. ONE WAS TO IMPROVE HOUSING OPPORTUNITY FOR BLACKS. >> THESE ARE SIMPLY RECOMMENDATIONS. >> (NARRATOR) THEY ARE NOT ACTED UPON. WHITE HOME OWNERS, BANKERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS COLLUDED TO BLOCK HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES. THESE RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS WOULD KEEP BLACKS CONTAINED IN INCREASINGLY OVERCROWDED NEIGHBORHOODS FOR THE NEXT QUARTER CENTURY. >> MOST PEOPLE AND I HAVE HEARD THIS FROM A LOT OF ELDERS WHO LIVED AT THAT TIME WOULD SAY, AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME, YOU HAD A TOTAL BLACK COMMUNITY. >> BLACK METROPOLIS EMERGED WITH BLACK BANKS. >> IT WAS COMPREHENSIVE. >> AND UP AND DOWN STATE STREET WERE BLACK BUSINESSES, SMALL AND LARGE. FROM BARBER SHOPS AND BEAUTY SHOPS. >> IT COULD PROVIDE ANY SERVICE THAT WE NEEDED; >> ...WOMEN'T DRESS SHOPS, >> IT ENCOMPASSED ALL CLASSES, ALL TYPES OF BLACK PEOPLE. >> ICE CREAM PARLORS. >> FANTASTIC HATS MADE ON 47TH STREET THAT MAN COULD MAKE A HAT. >> IT WAS A MICROCOSM IN A SENSE OF WHAT ONE WOULD WANT TO SEE WITHIN AN IDEAL COMMUNITY. >> I LIVED ON THE BLOCK WITH MAILMEN, POLICY RUNNERS, DOCTORS. >> ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS, JULIAN DAWSON, HIS FATHER WAS A DOCTOR, JULIAN DAWSON, WHOSE BROTHER WAS BILL DAWSON - THE LAWYER WHO LATER BECAME FAMOUS IN POLITICS. >> ONE DID NOT LACK FOR ANYTHING. >> WE HAD A GUY WHO OWNED A DRUG STORE. >> WE DIDN'T HAVE TO GO DOWNTOWN. WELL THEY DIDN'T LET US DOWNTOWN AT FIELDS ANYHOW. >> EVEN THOUGH ONE LIVED UNDER CONDITIONS OF DISCRIMINATION AND SEGREGATION. OF COURSE PEOPLE MADE LESS MONEY THAN WHITE WORKERS; OF COURSE PEOPLE LIVED IN HOUSING CONDITIONS THAT WERE OFTEN HORRIFIC RELATIVE TO THE CONDITIONS THAT WHITES LIVED IN. YET PEOPLE STILL BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE LIVING IN A COMMUNITY THAT COULD PROVIDE EVERYTHING THAT THEY NEEDED. >> A CITY IN A CITY. >> WE HAD A MOTTO, CREATED BY THE CHICAGO DEFENDER, CHICAGO WHIP AND THE CHICAGO BEE. AND THE MOTTO WENT LIKE THIS, "DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY WHERE YOU CAN'T WORK." >> ANTHONY OVERTON BUILT AN EMPIRE. YOU WOULDN'T KNOW THAT THIS MAN HIRED AN ARCHITECT TO BUILD A BUILDING THE SIZE OF A CITY BLOCK THAT WAS DEVOTED TO BLACK BUSINESSES. >> WHAT SEGREGATION DID WAS CREATE A SHELTERED MARKET AND SO WHAT YOU HAD BLACK ENTREPRENEURS SERVING A BLACK MARKET. THE OVERTONS WEREN'T SELLING COSMETICS TO WHITE WOMEN. >> HE HAD THE CHICAGO BEE, A NEWSPAPER; HE HAD AN INSURANCE COMPANY. BUSINESSES WERE ASSOCIATED MOST CLOSELY WITH THE PERSON WHO FOUNDED THAT BUSINESS. AND WHEN THEY LEFT IT JUST WENT AWAY. >> (NARRATOR) ON SOUTH INDIANA AVENUE, AT THE PILGRIM BAPTIST CHURCH, ANOTHER REMARKABLE YOUNG CHICAGOAN WOULD LAUNCH A DIFFERENT KIND OF MOVEMENT. THOMAS A. DORSEY COMBINED SOUTHERN BLUES WITH NEGRO SPIRITUALS TO CREATE A MUSICAL REVOLUTION, GOSPEL MUSIC. FOLLOWING THE TRAGIC DEATHS OF HIS WIFE AND INFANT SON, DORSEY WROTE THE FIRST GOSPEL SONG... [SINGING] CHICAGO WOULD ALSO PRODUCE A LONG LINE OF GOSPEL SUPERSTARS. THE BRIGHTEST WAS MAHALIA JACKSON. [SINGING] WHILE WORKING AS A DOMESTIC SHE BUILT HER REPUTATION AS A SINGER, DELIVERING HER OWN RECORDINGS TO BARBER AND BEAUTY SHOPS. [SINGING] DURING THE 1920S BLACKS WERE NOT ONLY INTERESTED IN THE ARTS, HISTORY AND BUSINESS, THEY ALSO SOUGHT DARING EXPLOITS. AVIATOR BESSIE COLEMAN LAUNCHED A GENERATION OF BLACK PILOTS. SHE WOULD DEMONSTRATE THAT EVEN IF BLACK COULD NOT MOVE OUT OF THE CONFINES OF THE BLACK BELT, THEY COULD SOAR ABOVE IT. >> CHICAGO IS ONE OF SEVERAL CENTERS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS BECOMING PLANE CRAZY DURING THE PERIOD OF THE 1930S. AFRICAN-AMERICANS BECOME MORE AND MORE FASCINATED WITH WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO BE ABLE TO TAKE TO THE SKIES AS A KIND OF WAY TO SYMBOLICALLY PRACTICE FREEDOM. >> CORNELIUS COFFEY WAS A FANTASTIC PIONEER BLACK AVIATOR AND HE ALONG WITH HIS PARTNER JOHN C. ROBINSON WAS TRAINED IN AUTO MECHANICS. COFFEY WAS A RATHER QUIET TIMID AND SHY INDIVIDUAL. AND JOHNNY ROBINSON WAS DARING AND EXCITING. COFFEY TOLD ME THAT IT WAS BESSIE COLEMAN, THAT WHEN SHE DIED IN THIS PLANE CRASH THEY WANTED TO CONTINUE WHERE SHE LEFT OFF. SO THEY APPLIED BY MAIL FOR THE CURTIS-WRIGHT AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY AT 1338 S. MICHIGAN AND THEY SENT THEIR CHECK IN, THEIR MONEY AND WHEN THEY CAME IN FOR THE INTERVIEW TO THE SCHOOL WAS WHEN THEY DISCOVERED THEY WERE BLACK, AFRICAN-AMERICAN, AND THE SCHOOL OFFERED TO REFUND THEIR MONEY BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T ACCEPT BLACKS. THEY WERE VERY DISAPPOINTED. >> (NARRATOR) ROBINSON TOOK A JOB AS A JANITOR IN THE SCHOOL. HE GATHERED UP DISCARDED STUDENT NOTES AND STUDIED THEM. HE AND COFFEY USED INSTRUCTIONS ROBINSON FOUND TO BUILD AN AIRPLANE. >> BUT IT DIDN'T COME WITH AN ENGINE THEY PUT THE MOTORCYCLE ENGINE IN THERE. >> (NARRATOR) ROBINSON AND COFFEY CONVINCED A WHITE PILOT FROM SCHOOL TO HELP THEM TEST THE PLANE. THEY TOOK IT TO WASHINGTON PARK WHERE THE PILOT TAXIED AROUND THE FIELD. HE WAS RELUCTANT TO ATTEMPT FLIGHT BUT THE MACHINERY RAN SO SMOOTHLY HE DECIDED TO TAKE IT UP. >> AND THE DARN THING FLEW. >> WILLA BROWN WAS A VERY ATTRACTIVE YOUNG LADY, THEY TAUGHT HER HOW TO FLY AND SHE RECEIVED HER LICENSE. >> (NARRATOR) WILLA BROWN WOULD TEACH BLACK PILOTS HOW TO PROMOTE THEMSELVES. DRESSED IN FULL AVIATOR GEAR, SHE MARCHED INTO THE DEFENDER NEWSPAPER AND DEMANDED THAT REPORTERS WRITE MORE ARTICLES ABOUT FLYING. AND THEY DID. >> PEOPLE LIKE WILLA BROWN, PEOPLE LIKE CORNELIUS COFFEY, PEOPLE LIKE JOHN ROBINSON ARE ALL GOING TO BE IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF ENCOURAGING A SENSE OF BLACKS BEING FASCINATED AND CAPTIVATED BY THE IDEAS OF MEMBERS OF THEIR RACIAL COMMUNITY BEING ABLE TO FLY. >> ETHIOPIA IS SOVEREIGN AND CONTROLLED BY AFRICAN DESCENDED PEOPLES. >> ETHIOPIA IS THE ONLY BLACK AFRICAN COUNTRY THAT WAS NEVER COLONIZED. >> ETHIOPIA HAD A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE HEART OF BLACK PEOPLE GOING BACK TO BIBLICAL DAYS AND THE PHRASE, "ETHIOPIA SHALL STRETCH FORTH ITS HANDS." >> THE PSALM THAT SPEAKS ABOUT "PRINCES SHALL COME FORTH FROM ETHIOPIA" WAS INCREDIBLY MOTIVATING BOTH TO BLACK CHRISTIANS AND TO AFRO-CENTRISTS. >> SO WHEN THE ITALIANS INVADED IN 1935 BLACKS WERE INCENSED. >> AFRICAN AMERICANS SEE A PARTICULAR KIND OF TRANSGRESSION AND THEREFORE THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ITALY AND ETHIOPIA AS MUSSOLINI SURELY UNDERSTOOD IT, AS HAILE SELASSIE HAD TO FIGHT IT, AS A RACE WAR. >> THE EMPEROR WENT TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND PLEADED FOR HELP LONG BEFORE THE INVASION STARTED. >> AND SOME BLACKS VOLUNTEERED TO FIGHT FOR THE ETHIOPIANS. ONE MAN IN PARTICULAR. >> IS COLONEL JOHN ROBINSON. >> THE "ONE MAN ETHIOPIAN AIR FORCE." >> (NARRATOR) A FEW YEARS EARLIER AT THE 1933 CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR, ITALY'S AIR MARSHALL BALBO, IN A DRAMATIC DEMONSTRATION OF AVIATION PROWESS, LEAD A SQUADRON OF TWENTY-FOUR SEAPLANES TO CHICAGO. LITTLE DID JOHN ROBINSON KNOW THAT HE WOULD SOON FACE BALBO'S AIR FORCE OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF ETHIOPIA. WHEN IT LOOKED LIKE ETHIOPIA WAS ABOUT TO FALL, THE EMPEROR THANKED ROBINSON FOR HIS SERVICE AND TOLD HIM TO RETURN HOME. ROBINSON ARRIVED TO A HERO'S WELCOME AND GAVE A SPEECH TO A CROWD OF OVER 20,000 FROM THE BALCONY OF THE GRAND HOTEL. AFTER ROBINSON RETURNED TO CHICAGO, HE JOINED WILLA BROWN, JANET BRAGG AND CORNELIUS COFFEY TO FORM THE NATIONAL AIRMAN'S ASSOCIATION. THE GROUP WOULD TRAIN PILOTS, MANY OF WHOM WOULD BECOME MEMBERS OF THE NATION'S FIRST ALL-BLACK SQUADRON, THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN. (NARRATOR) "DEAR MR. PRESIDENT "RESPECTFULLY, SIR, "I AWAIT YOUR REPLY "AS I TRAIN HERE TO FIGHT, "PERHAPS TO DIE. "I AM A SOLDIER DOWN IN ALABAM' "WEARING THE UNIFORM "OF UNCLE SAM "I ASK WHY YOUR SOLDIERS "MUST RIDE IN THE BACK "SEGREGATED BECAUSE WE ARE BLACK?" LANGSTON HUGHES, 1943. >> NOW DURING THE WAR BLACKS SAID OK, WE'RE GOING TO FIGHT THE ENEMY BUT WE ALSO WANT TO FIGHT AT HOME FOR EQUAL RIGHTS. >> FIGHTING FOR LIBERTY, FIGHTING FOR A COUNTRY WHERE THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE IT YOU TALK ABOUT A LEAP OF FAITH. >> BLACKS FOUGHT FOR WHAT WAS CALLED A DOUBLE V, DOUBLE VICTORY. >> (NARRATOR) THE DOUBLE V CAMPAIGN URGED THE NATION TO DECLARE WAR ON RACISM AS IT DID ON ITS FOES OVERSEAS. "VICTORY AT HOME AND VICTORY ABROAD" THAT WAS THE MANTRA OF BLACK NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. >> WHEN I WENT TO THE ARMY, THE BLACK POPULATION OF CHICAGO IN THAT CONCENTRATED AREA THE BLACK BELT, WAS ABOUT 225,000. WHEN I CAME BACK, TWO AND HALF YEARS LATER, THAT NUMBER IN THE SAME SPACE HAD DOUBLED. >> (NARRATOR) WHEN THESE SOLDIERS RETURNED FROM THE WAR, THEY FOUND THAT VICTORY ON THE BATTLEFIELD DID NOT EQUATE TO VICTORY ON THE HOME FRONT. >> IF A BLACK SERVICEMAN WANTED TO LIVE ANYWHERE, HE COULDN'T LIVE ANYWHERE. >> BLACK FAMILIES WERE BEING LITERARY TERRORIZED OUT OF THEIR APARTMENTS BY VIRTUE OF WHITE INTOLERANCE. >> IN PLACES LIKE AIRPORT HOMES AND FERNWOOD, AND CICERO, WHERE BLACK VETERANS WERE NOT JUST DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BUT IF THEY MOVED INTO THE NEW HOUSING WERE THE VICTIMS OF TERRORISTIC ASSAULTS. >> A NEGRO BUS DRIVER HARVEY CLARK RENTED AN APARTMENT HERE. THE FOLLOWING NIGHT VANDALS BROKE INTO HIS APARTMENT AND DESTROYED HIS FURNISHINGS. A MOB OF 5,000 GATHERED OUTSIDE. THEY HURLED FIREBOMBS, ROCKS AND BOTTLES AT THE BUILDING. >> MIGHT BE SHOTS FIRED, PEOPLE MIGHT BE BEATEN. MY FATHER, FOR THE FIRST TIME, GOT HIMSELF A PISTOL, BUT HE NEVER HAD TO USE IT. >> (NARRATOR) AND THERE WAS NO ROOM TO EXPAND. THE RESTRICTIVE LIVING SPACES WERE OFTEN CREATIVELY TRANSFORMED. >> THAT WAS THE PLACE TO GO, TO MARGARET'S KITCHEN. >> NO HEAT, YOU'D FREEZE YOUR DERRIERE OFF. REALLY. >> YOU KNOW THAT'S WHERE WE WOULD GATHER. >> IT WASN'T FOR EATING IT WAS FOR ORGANIZING AND JUST TALKING POLITICS. >> MANY OF THE ARTISTS WOULD BE THERE TO SHARE THEIR POETRY AND ALL SO FORTH AND SO ON. I THINK THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE REASONS HOW WE GOT THIS SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER STARTED. >> EVERY BLACK ARTIST OF NOTE WANTED TO HAVE AN EXHIBIT AT THE SOUTH SIDE ARTS CENTER BECAUSE THAT WAS THE SHOWPLACE. >> AT THE ARTS CENTER YOU KNOW THERE WAS JUST THIS WHOLE WEALTH OF INDIVIDUALS WHO REALLY LEARNED FROM EACH OTHER. I THINK AT THAT POINT IT WAS JUST SOMETHING SPECIAL OF BEING AN ARTIST RIGHT BEFORE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. I THINK ARTISTS VIEWED THEIR ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AS A WAY OF CONVEYING THOSE SOCIAL INJUSTICES AND ADVOCATING FOR SOCIAL PARITY. >> MY FATHER, MARION PERKINS, SELF TAUGHT SCULPTOR AND ACTIVIST. >> AND IT WAS A GENTLEMAN AT THE SOUTH SIDE COMMUNITY ART CENTER WHO SAW MY GRANDFATHER AND HE WAS JUST LIKE YOU KNOW, THIS MAN HAS TALENT. AND BROUGHT HIM TO THE CENTER AND HE STARTED TO HELP MY GRANDFATHER GROW HIS AESTHETIC. HIS ART WORK ALWAYS PORTRAYED AFRICAN AMERICANS AS POWERFUL, MAJESTIC AND AS A PROUD PEOPLE. >> (NARRATOR) AN ENTERPRISING YOUNG BUSINESSMAN WOULD ALSO RECOGNIZE THE NEED TO PROUDLY PORTRAY AFRICAN AMERICANS. >> I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF WORKING WITH JOHN H. JOHNSON AND HE HAD THE IDEA, SIMPLE IDEA OF FOUNDING A BLACK MAGAZINE WITH PHOTOGRAPHS. >> I SOLD EBONY'S AND JET'S; I HAD MY LITTLE EBONY BAG. >> AND ONE OF THE MAJOR IDEAS HE HAD WAS JUST TO SHOW THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN AS A FULLY-ROUNDED HUMAN BEING. >> THE JET'S WERE 15 CENTS. >> GOOD SIDE, BAD SIDE, MIDDLE SIDE. AND THE IDEA TOOK OFF. >> (NARRATOR) CHICAGO WOULD ALSO PRODUCE AND DISTRIBUTE RHYTHM AND BLUES MUSIC. ARTISTS LIKE GENE CHANDLER, AND JERRY BUTLER AND THE IMPRESSIONS BEGAN THEIR CAREERS ON THE CITY'S SOUTH SIDE. >> WE WENT DOWN ON MICHIGAN AVENUE, WHICH WAS AT THAT TIME, KNOWN AS RECORD ROW. WENT TO A PLACE CALLED V.J. RECORDS AND WE RECORDED A SONG THAT WAS A POEM ORIGINALLY CALLED "FOR YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE." AND AS THEY SAY, THE REST IS HISTORY. [SINGING] >> (NARRATOR) CHICAGO, WITH ITS THRIVING POST-WAR ENVIRONMENT, CONTINUED TO BE THE DESTINATION FOR SOUTHERN BLACKS LOOKING FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES. >> I GREW UP ON THE WESTSIDE OF CHICAGO >> WE LIVED ON THE WESTSIDE OF CHICAGO. >> THE WESTSIDE WAS SLAMMING. >> THE NEW PEOPLE WALKED DIFFERENT. >> I HAD PEOPLE SAY TO ME THINGS LIKE, OH YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A WESTSIDER. >> TALKED DIFFERENT. >> "OH YOU DON'T SOUND LIKE A WESTSIDER. " >> IF SOMEONE'S PARENTS WERE WORKING WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF SCHOOL, YOU WENT ACROSS THE STREET TO MISS DAVIS' HOUSE AND YOU WOULD EAT WITH THEM AND IT WAS NO BIG DEAL. >> DOWN HOME. >> IT WAS MORE LIKE A VILLAGE. >> DIFFERENT KIND OF MUSIC. >> SAM COOKE'S MY MOM'S FIRST COUSIN. EDDIE SHAW, THAT'S MY POPS, THAT'S MY POPS. HE'S A BLUES LEGEND. >> THERE WAS THIS WEST SIDE VERSUS SOUTH SIDE KIND OF MENTALITY. >> BECAUSE THEY WERE DIFFERENT, ACCORDING TO US. >> POP ACTUALLY HAD HIS OWN CLUB AT ONE TIME CALLED THE 1815 CLUB OVER ON ROOSEVELT ROAD. ALL THE BAD DUDES OF BLUES USED TO COME THERE HOWLIN' WOLF, MUDDY WATERS. YOU COULD SEE WOLF SITTIN' THERE EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT, HOLDING COURT. >> THE SUPREME COURT DECISION OF NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR. >> BROWN VERSUS BOARD OF EDUCATION, THERE WAS ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF SCHOOLS IN WHICH BLACK STUDENTS COULD GO BEFORE BROWN VERSUS BOARD OF EDUCATION. >> (NARRATOR) THE BATTLE FOR EQUALITY RESULTED IN SOME LEGAL VICTORIES, BUT THESE WERE OFTEN DIRECTLY FOLLOWED BY VIOLENT BACKLASHES. THE SUPREME COURT DECISION THAT ENDED SCHOOL SEGREGATION WAS NO EXCEPTION. MISSISSIPPI WAS GROUND ZERO FOR THE DANGEROUS AND POLARIZED CLIMATE GRIPPING THE COUNTRY IN A PERIOD THE NAACP CALLED "THE REIGN OF TERROR." IT WAS INTO THIS OMINOUS ATMOSPHERE THAT AN INNOCENT CHILD FROM CHICAGO ARRIVED IN THE SUMMER OF 1955. >> WE'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT IS THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WHEN EMMITT TILL WENT INTO THE GROCERY STORY IN MONEY, MISSISSIPPI IN LATE AUGUST OF 1955 AND HAD AN INTERACTION WITH CAROLYN BRYANT. HE WAS TAKEN AWAY TO A FARMHOUSE AND WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT HE WAS BEATEN BRUTALLY... HE WAS SHOT IN THE HEAD... SOME PEOPLE CLAIM THAT HE WAS, THAT HE WAS MUTILATED IN A PARTICULARLY EMPHATIC SEXUAL WAY AND THEN, THROWN INTO THE RIVER WITH A GIN FAN TIED AROUND HIS HEAD. >> IT INFURIATED BLACK PEOPLE ACROSS THE NATION ABOUT THE ATROCITIES THAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE YOUNG MAN. >> MAMIE TILL MOBLEY SAID THAT BODY MUST COME BACK UP TO CHICAGO. >> THAT THEY WERE DOING ORGANIZING AROUND BRINGING EMMETT TILL BACK TO CHICAGO. >> I WANT TO SEE MY SON. >> GUS SAVAGE AND BENNETT JOHNSON AND OTHERS WERE INVOLVED. >> I WANT TO BURY MY SON. I WANT THE WORLD TO SEE WHAT THEY DID TO MY SON. AND THEY TAKE PHOTOS THAT ARE PUBLISHED WITHIN JET MAGAZINE AND CIRCULATE ALL ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. >> MOST PEOPLE HERE HAD EXPERIENCED IN THEIR LIFETIME SOMEONE WHO HAD BEEN LYNCHED. MY MAMA AND DADDY COULD DESCRIBE IN DETAIL FRIENDS OF THEIRS WHO HAD BEEN LYNCHED. >> YOUNG PEOPLE SAW TILL'S BODY IN JET MAGAZINE. >> I MADE THE CONNECTION TO EMMETT TILL BECAUSE I BELIEVE EMMETT TILL AND I WERE THE SAME AGE. >> YOUNG PEOPLE HEARD THE STORY ABOUT TILL'S FUNERAL IN CHICAGO. >> I VAGUELY REMEMBER GOING DOWN. THERE WAS A LONG LINE OF PEOPLE. THEY HAD AN OPEN CASKET. THEY HAD, - THE PEOPLE WHO MURDERED EMMETT TILL HAD DEFACED HIM. >> AND YOUNG PEOPLE SAID THAT'S A YOUNG BOY WHO REPRESENTS ME. >> EMMETT TILL'S MURDER TOOK PLACE IN THE SUMMER OF 1955. DECEMBER 1, 1955 KICKED OFF THE INCIDENT WITH ROSA PARKS. >> (NARRATOR) REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DECIDED TO BRING THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP COUNCIL FREEDOM CAMPAIGN NORTH TO CHICAGO IN 1965. >> NOT ONE OF THE MOST EMBRACING CITIES. >> VERY PUBLIC PUSH OFF BY MANY BLACK OFFICIALS. >> WHO ACTUALLY CALLED A PRESS CONFERENCE AND SAID DR. KING WAS NOT WELCOME IN CHICAGO. >> AND WHEN DR. KING CAME TO THE WEST SIDE IT WAS A REAL BIG DEAL WHEN HE MOVED INTO NORTH LAWNDALE. >> THE MOVEMENT DIDN'T START BECAUSE KING SAID MARCH. IT STARTED BECAUSE PEOPLE ALL OVER THIS COUNTRY SAID IN THEIR HEARTS, THAT WE'RE READY TO MARCH. >> I MARCHED WITH DR. KING IN GAGE PARK AND THEY HAD TAKEN THE WOMEN AND THE CHILDREN AND PUT US IN THE MIDDLE OF A CIRCLE AROUND HIM AND AROUND THAT WERE THE MEN AND THEN AROUND THAT WERE THE CIVIL RIGHTS VETERANS. >> PEOPLE FELT LIKE THEY WERE MARCHING WITH HISTORY. >> I WENT ON ALL THE MARCHES IN CHICAGO, ALL OF THEM. I WAS THERE ON THE WEST SIDE WHEN THOSE CRAZY PEOPLE THREW BRICKS. >> AND THE WHITE PEOPLE WHO CAME OUT OF THEIR HOUSES AND THREW BRICKS AND STONES. >> HE WAS HIT IN THE HEAD. >> HIT BY ONE OF THESE BRICKS. >> IT WAS MORE FEROCIOUS THAN IT HAD BEEN DOWN SOUTH. >> AND THOSE WHO WILL MAKE THIS PEACEFUL REVOLUTION IMPOSSIBLE WILL MAKE A VIOLENT REVOLUTION INEVITABLE. >> AND THIS DYNAMIC OF TRYING TO SHUT DOWN DR. KING FROM COMING IN TO CHICAGO HAD A REVERSE EFFECT. BECAUSE IT SHINED THE LIGHT ON CHICAGO. >> SHINING THE LIGHT OF TRUTH ON WHAT WAS GOING ON. >> SHINING LIGHT ON RACIAL DISPARITY, RACIAL SEGREGATION, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN ALL THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN CHICAGO. THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT. >> AND I CAN REMEMBER LOOKING AT HIM AND SEEING ON HIS FACE HIS RESPONSE AND FOR ME IN THAT MOMENT IT BECAME VERY CLEAR WHY THE NON-VIOLENCE RESISTANCE WAS A MORE POWERFUL RESPONSE, WAS A MORE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO THE EVIL AND THE VIOLENCE THAT WE WERE FACING. >> IN CHICAGO I COULDN'T BE NON-VIOLENT. I COULD BE NONVIOLENT IN MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA BUT NOT IN CHICAGO. IF ONE OF THEM HITS ME, THE NON VIOLENT MOVEMENT IS OVER. >> FRED HAMPTON STARTED OUT IN MAYWOOD IN A COMMUNITY CENTER. >> FRED WAS A MIDDLE CLASS BLACK KID. >> PROVISO EAST HIGH SCHOOL. FOOTBALL PLAYER. >> I MEAN, REALLY PREPPY. >> HE HAD LEADERSHIP ABILITIES EVEN THEN. >> I KNEW FRED, AND OH YEAH, WE WERE FRIENDS. >> FRED HAMPTON WAS MY GREAT FRIEND. HE WAS A VISIONARY. >> FRED HAMPTON WANTED TO BE A LAWYER. >> I WAS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT THE TIME AND HE WOULD COME OVER AND WE WOULD SIT AND HAVE LUNCH, YOU KNOW, SAVE THE WORLD, ALL OF THAT. SO BOBBY RUSH, FRED HAMPTON, WE WERE ALL KIDS TOGETHER. >> (NARRATOR) BY THE FALL OF 1968, HAMPTON LEFT MAINSTREAM CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS BEHIND TO HELP START THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY. >> HE QUICKLY MOVED UP INTO THE PANTHERS IN THE RANKS. >> BECOMING THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY. >> ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS WAS A MEMBER OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND THEY MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY WERE NOT AFRAID TO DEFEND THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES. >> IT WAS AT CALUMET HIGH SCHOOL THAT I JOINED THE PANTHERS. I WAS SELLING PANTHER PAPERS, WEARING COMBAT BOOTS AND YOU KNOW, PLAYING THE ROLE. I WAS TRULY BEHIND THE IDEOLOGY. >> FREE HEALTH PROGRAMS. >> AND THAT FREE BREAKFAST PROGRAM. >> I HELPED WITH THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM AT ONE POINT. >> I WAS CUTTING HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES, MY MORNING CLASSES TO GO AND FEED THE KIDS. >> THE FREE BREAKFAST PROGRAM THAT EXISTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TODAY CAME FROM THE PANTHERS. SO THE PANTHER LEGACY HAS BEEN DISTORTED. >> I HAD A GUN. I HAD A .38 I HAD TAKEN, I HAD STOLEN OFF A SECURITY GUARD AT LOOP CITY COLLEGE. >> SOMETIMES IT WAS A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO GET IN BETWEEN SOME OF THOSE STATEMENTS AND READ SOME OF THE NUANCES. >> IT WASN'T ABOUT SO MUCH BLACK POWER AS IT WAS ABOUT, YOU KNOW, INJUSTICE. >> IF YOU DID NOT HAVE A BLACK POWER MOVEMENT, YOU WOULD NOT HAVE HAD A BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, BECAUSE CONTRARY TO THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT WAS VERY MILITANT, VERY OUTSPOKEN. >> YOU FIND ARTISTS COMING TOGETHER ALMOST THE SAME TIME SAYING THAT WE HAVE GOT TO CONTINUE TO REDEFINE OURSELVES. SO WE BEGAN TO DEVELOP WHAT WE CALL INDEPENDENT BLACK INSTITUTIONS AND OF COURSE, INDEPENDENT THOUGHT. >> WE USED TO SAY NOT ART FOR THE ARTISTS SAKE BUT ART FOR THE PEOPLE'S SAKE. WE HAD BEEN INFILTRATED BY THE FBI; THEY BASICALLY TRIED TO BREED DISCORD IN THE BLACK NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT. >> IT MADE ME UNDERSTAND THAT ART HAD POWER. >> AFRICOBRA HAS PROBABLY INFLUENCED EVERY AFRICAN AMERICAN AND AFRICAN DIASPHORIC ARTIST SINCE THEIR INCEPTION. >> AFRICOBRA IS... >> THE AFRICAN COMMUNE OF BAD RELEVANT ARTISTS. >> THAT'S WHAT THE LETTERS STAND FOR. >> AS A PAINTER, THE MOVEMENT OF AFRICOBRA IS MY BIGGEST INFLUENCE. THEIR COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY. >> A LOT OF THEIR ESTHETICS I STILL INCORPORATE INTO MY WORK AS FAR AS COLOR PALLETS. >> VERY BRIGHT, VIVID COLORS. WHAT WAS CALLED KOOL-AID COLORS. >> K O O L HYPHEN A I D. >> BECAUSE EVERYBODY DRANK KOOL-AID AT THAT TIME. >> AND REDEFINING OURSELVES WE CEASED BEING NEGROS AND BECAME BLACK PEOPLE AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY AND SO FORTH. WE CHANGED THE CONVERSATION. >>(NARRATOR) ON APRIL 4TH 1968, IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND HIS STAFF STOOD ON THE BALCONY OF THE LORRAINE MOTEL. >> I WAS COMING ACROSS THE COURTYARD, AND DR. KING WAS COMING OUT OF HIS ROOM AND HE SAID JESSE WERE GOING TO REV. HOWARD'S HOME FOR DINNER YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE ON A SHIRT AND TIE. AND I SAID DOC, YOU KNOW, THE PREREQUISITE FOR EATING IS AN APPETITE NOT A TIE. HE SAID, YOU ARE CRAZY. AND WE LAUGHED. HE LEANED OVER AND SAID TO BEN BRANCH, SAID BE SURE TO PLAY MY FAVORITE SONG "PRECIOUS LORD" TONIGHT. HE RAISED UP, I SAID DOC, (CLAPS HIS HANDS) AND THE BULLET HIT HIM. AND THE WHOLE WORLD CHANGED. THE WHOLE WORLD CHANGED, AND YOU'VE SEEN THAT PICTURE OF US POINTING BECAUSE THE POLICE WERE COMING AT US WITH DRAWN GUNS. WE WERE SAYING THE BULLET CAME FROM THAT WAY. >> DR. KING HAS BEEN A BUFFER THE LAST TWO YEARS BETWEEN THE BLACK COMMUNITY AND THE WHITE COMMUNITY. THE WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW IT BUT THE WHITE PEOPLE'S BEST FRIEND IS DEAD. >> AND THEN THE RIOTS HAPPENED. >> IF IT COULD HAPPEN TO THIS GUY WHOSE CHANGED US ALL FOR THE BETTER, IF IT COULD HAPPEN TO THIS GUY WHO TAUGHT US LOVE AND PEACE AND HOPE THEN WHERE DO I FIT IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS. BEST I CAN DO IS FIGHT BACK, THE WORST I CAN IS BE HIT BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE BECAUSE THE KING, THE KING OF HOPE IS DEAD. >> AND THAT RAGE, I THINK, FUEL WAS PART AND PARCEL OF WHAT I REFER TO AS FEAR. >>THEY WERE BURNING UP CHICAGO. >> THE WHOLE STREET WAS IN FLAMES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT COULD DO NOTHING. >> A NUMBER OF STORES ON THE SOUTH SIDE WOULD PUT SIGNS UP YOU KNOW, BLACK OWNED. >> IT DIDN'T MATTER WHAT SIDE OF TOWN. THE SENSE OF DISGUST AND PAIN ABOUNDED. >> THE RIOT WAS MOVING WEST ON MADISON SEE. I WAS RIGHT THERE AT THAT WINDOW. >> I WAS STANDING ON THE CORNER OF KEDZIE AND ROOSEVELT AND I'M STANDING RIGHT THERE AND WATCHING LITTLE KIDS GO IN, TAKE CANDY, AND GROWN PEOPLE WENT IN AND TOOK CLOTHING. >> AND THEY TOOK TO THE MICROPHONES AND ASKED THEM TO YOU KNOW JUST GO HOME, YOU KNOW, THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT THING TO DO. YOU CAN'T BURN UP YOUR OWN COMMUNITY. >> AND I KNOW THAT WE WERE EFFECTIVE IN STOPPING, STOPPING WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN EVEN, EVEN WORSE. >> THE COMPLICATIONS OF RACE IN AMERICA ARE DIFFICULT TO DESCRIBE. YOU HAVE TO ALMOST LIVE THEM. >> IF A LIGHT MAN ASKS YOU WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BLACK POWER? WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT? WHAT MAKES IT SO DIFFICULT TO ANSWER IS THAT HE'S NOT ASKING A REAL QUESTION. WHAT HE REALLY IS ASKING, WHETHER OR NOT HE KNOWS IT, IT WASN'T SO BAD, YOU KNOW, YOU DIDN'T MIND BEING EMASCULATED, YOU KNOW? YOU DIDN'T MIND HAVING THE CHILDREN SOLD, YOU DIDN'T MIND SEEING YOUR BROTHER LYNCHED. IT WASN'T AS BAD AS YOU SAY IT IS, I'M NOT THAT BAD, AM I? YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO TO ME WHAT I HAD DONE TO YOU, ARE YOU? >> (NARRATOR) CHICAGO CONTINUED TO SMOLDER LONG AFTER THE KING ASSASSINATION RIOTS ENDED. THE UNEASY CALM WAS PIERCED BY THE HAIL OF PREDAWN GUNFIRE AT THE BLACK PANTHER HEADQUARTERS. >> THE FBI AND THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES HAD A MAP AND A DRAWING WHERE FRED WAS SLEEPING IN THE HOUSE IN THE BED. >> HE WAS KILLED ON DECEMBER THE 4TH, 1969. >> THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO WERE OUTRAGED WHEN THEY FOUND OUT ABOUT IT. >> ONE OF THE POLICE WAS OVERHEAD BY SAYING THAT NIGGER IS DEAD, GOOD AND DEAD NOW. >> IT WAS AKIN TO A MODERN DAY LYNCHING BY A MOB, BUT A LEGAL MOB. WHEN SOMEONE CAN PUT ONE HUNDRED BULLETS THROUGH YOUR HOUSE AND YOU'RE LIKE THIS ONE PERSON AND A WHOLE ARMY DESCENDS ON HIM. >> AND IT WAS DONE BY ED HANRAHAN. >> THE STATES ATTORNEY WAS DETERMINED TO STOP THE PANTHERS, THAT WAS HIS OBSESSION. >> IT WAS LIKE YOU KILL WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU KILL WHAT YOU FEAR. >> PEOPLE DID ORGANIZE AND DID GET MOBILIZED TO PROTEST WHAT HAD HAPPENED. >> WELL IT WAS PRETTY CLEAR WHAT HAD HAPPENED. >> THE COUNTER INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT THAT INFILTRATED AND DISRUPTED OUR MOVEMENT AND CAUSED GREAT GRIEF. >> THE LIES WERE AT FIRST THAT THEY HAD SHOT AT THE POLICE AND ALL OF THIS AND OF COURSE IT CAME OUT THAT NO SUCH THING HAD HAPPENED, THAT THEY WERE FIRED UPON WHILE THEY WERE YET IN THEIR BEDS. >> AND WHEN PEOPLE WENT OVER TO 2300 W. MONROE TO SEE THE HOUSE THAT THEY WERE LIVING IN I THINK PEOPLE WERE ENRAGED. >> WHEN WE SEE CSI AND ALL THESE OTHER THINGS AND YOU SEE THE YELLOW TAPE AND IT'S A CRIME SCENE. THERE WAS NO YELLOW TAPE. >> MUCH LIKE THE EMMETT TILL STORY THE FRED HAMPTON CASE WAS ABLE TO EXPOSE THE INHERENT IMMORALITY AND THE LACK OF INTEGRITY OF THE POWER STRUCTURE. >> AND I'LL NEVER FORGET GOING AROUND TRYING TO RAISE MONEY TO HELP PAY FOR LAWYERS AND TO HELP WITH THE RESPONSE TO THAT ASSASSINATION AND HOW TERRIFIED PEOPLE WERE OF BEING INVOLVED. >> SO WHEN THIS HAPPENED TO FRED, I TOOK THE GUN TO BOTANY'S POND AND THREW IT IN THERE AND I SAID I HAVE TO DO THIS SOME OTHER KIND OF WAY. I SAID I CAN BE A REVOLUTIONARY, I'M NOT GOING TO SHOOT ANYBODY. >> YOU CAN JAIL A REVOLUTIONARY BUT YOU CAN'T JAIL THE REVOLUTION. RIGHT. GOOD OLD CHICAGO SONGS THAT I GREW UP ON, THAT GAVE ME LIKE, MADE ME FEEL POWERFUL. >> THE REASON CHICAGO IS SO UNIQUE IS BECAUSE IT DID NOT HAVE A SOUND, IT HAD A BUNCH OF SOUNDS. >> I HATE TO START NAMING, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T NAME THEM ALL. >> THERE WAS RAMSEY LEWIS. >> MINNIE. [SINGING] >> JERRY BUTLER AND... >> AHMAD JAMAL AND THERE WAS EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE. >> THE STAPLE SINGERS... [SINGING] AND ALBERTINA WALKER. >> THERE WAS THE DELLS AND THE SPANIELS. >> THE MUSIC REALLY TOLD YOU THE STORY OF WHERE THOSE PEOPLE WERE FROM, AND WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE PEOPLE IN THAT PLACE. >> AND WE HAD PEOPLE LIKE-- >> CURTIS MAYFIELD. >> CURTIS MAYFIELD. >> CURTIS MAYFIELD. [SINGING] >> (NARRATOR) CURTIS MAYFIELD, A YOUNG MUSICIAN FROM THE CABRINI GREEN HOUSING PROJECTS WOULD CAPTURE THE HOPES, FRUSTRATION AND SWAGGER OF HIS GENERATION. [SINGING] MAYFIELD BEGAN HIS CAREER AT A YOUNG AGE WITH JERRY BUTLER. >> CURTIS WAS ABOUT NINE YEARS OLD. HE WAS THE LITTLE GUY. AND EVENTUALLY HE FOUND THE GUITAR HIDDEN IN HIS GRANDMOTHER'S CLOSET. AND SO LITTLE GUY BECAME THE MUSICIAN FOR THE GROUP. [MUSIC] >> IT'S THE BEST TESTING GROUND, BECAUSE EVERYBODY KNOWS THEIR MUSIC, THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON THERE. >> LIKE NOWHERE ELSE. >> THIS IS CHICAGO WEEK IN REVIEW. FIRST WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE PROPOSED BLACK BOYCOTT OF CHICAGO FEST, AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY'S OVERALL GROWING DISENCHANTMENT WITH CITY HALL. >> THE CHICAGO FEST BOYCOTT STARTED ON WBMX RADIO. I WAS DOING A RADIO PROGRAM ON WBMX ON SUNDAY MORNING, AND SOMEONE CALLED AND SAID, YOU KNOW, THE CHICAGO FEST IS JUST JANE BYRNE'S CORONATION. WE SHOULD FIGHT BACK. >> AND JESSE JUST JUMPED ON IT LIKE THAT. >> IT SEEMED TO BE A VERY DIFFICULT THING BECAUSE YOU HAD THE FREE HOT DOGS AND SOFT DRINKS AND BEER AND ICE CREAM. STEVIE WONDER WAS COMING AND ODETTA WAS COMING FOR FREE. >> YOU CAN HAVE 60,000 PICKETS OUT FRONT AND 70,000 BLACK PEOPLE WILL GO THROUGH THOSE PICKETS TO GET TO GO SEE STEVIE WONDER. I SAID HAVE YOU TALKED TO STEVIE ABOUT THIS? >> AND JESSE JACKSON WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE STEVIE NOT TO COME; REST OF THE BLACK ENTERTAINERS BOYCOTTED THAT FEST. >> THE BLACK COMMUNITY HAS FOR A LONG TIME BEEN WILLING TO VOTE FOR CANDIDATES WHO ARE WHITE AND SUDDENLY IF WHITE PEOPLE ARE AS CIVILIZED AND ARE AS KIND AS WE ARE, THEY CAN VOTE FOR CANDIDATES WHO HAPPEN NOT TO BE WHITE. >> I FIRST MET HAROLD WASHINGTON AS A VOLUNTEER IN HIS CAMPAIGN FOR RE-ELECTION TO THE ILLINOIS HOUSE. >> SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE MUST CONCERN THEMSELVES WITH THE PLIGHT OF WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE DISADVANTAGED AND PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN... >>VETERAN OF WORLD WAR II HIMSELF. CONGRESSMAN. >> ONE OF THE GREAT POLITICAL LEADERS THAT IT'S BEEN MY PRIVILEGE TO KNOW. >> PEOPLE WENT TO HAROLD WASHINGTON TO ASK HIM IF HE WAS GOING TO RUN FOR MAYOR >> AND HAROLD JOKED. >>YEAH I'LL RUN FOR MAYOR IF YOU REGISTER 150,000 PEOPLE. >> IF YOU WANT ME TO RUN, YOU HAVE TO DO THIS. RAISE ME A $100,000. >> AND I THINK IN THE BACK OF HIS MIND HE WAS HOPING THAT IT WOULDN'T GET DONE. SO THAT HAPPENED. ED GARDNER PUT $250,000 INTO A VOTER REGISTRATION CAMPAIGN AND OVER 150,000 PEOPLE WERE REGISTERED TO VOTE. >> I WENT TO HAROLD AND SAID "WHAT YOU GOING TO DO NOW MAN?" AND HE SAID "I GUESS I GOTTA RUN." >> I HEREBY DECLARE MY CANDIDACY FOR MAYOR OF CITY OF CHICAGO. (CROWD) "WE WANT HAROLD! WE WANT HAROLD!" >> EVERYBODY WAS INVOLVED IN IT. >> ORGANIZED LABOR ALWAYS GETS WHAT IT WANTS. IF YOU WANT HAROLD, YOU GOT HAROLD! >> EVERYBODY WAS RAISING MONEY. EVERYBODY WAS GOING OUT INTO THE STREETS. >> HE KNEW HOW TO MAKE COALITIONS; HE KNEW HOW TO PULL PEOPLE TOGETHER. >> HE WAS SO DYNAMIC THAT NOBODY ELSE COUNTED ANYWAY. >> I HEREBY DEDICATE YOU, AS A WARRIOR FOR WASHINGTON. >> THE SPIRIT WAS SO HIGH, IN THIS CITY, I ACTUALLY SAW PROSTITUTES AT 47TH STREET WITH SIGNS THAT SAID "HOES FOR WASHINGTON." >> RICHARD M. DALEY, THE STATE'S ATTORNEY, WAS GOING TO ENTER THE RACE AND CHALLENGE BYRNE. AND YOU HAD BYRNE AND DALEY, IF THEY SPLIT THE WHITE VOTE AND BLACK FOLKS VOTED FOR THE BLACK CANDIDATE, SIMPLE MATH. DURING THE SECOND DEBATE HE BLEW JANE BYRNE AND RICHARD DALEY AWAY. CHICAGO IS BEING RAVISHED BY CRIME. MY OPPONENT'S SOLUTIONS ARE PHONY STATISTICS AND MADISON AVENUE HYPE. >>THE DAY AFTER I HAPPEN TO WALK THROUGH THE LOOP AND THERE WAS A SEA OF BLUE BUTTONS, THE HAROLD WASHINGTON BUTTONS, ON ALL THESE BLACK PEOPLE, I MEAN, JUST LIKE MAGIC, AND I SAID HE'S GONNA DO IT, HE'S GONNA GET THE NOMINATION. (CROWD) WE WANT "HAROLD! WE WANT HAROLD!" >> HAROLD WAS ABLE TO COME UP THE MIDDLE IN A FRACTIOUS ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN. >> HE WAS COMBATIVE, HE JUST LOOKED MAGNIFICENT. SO AFTER HE GOT NOMINATED... >>...THERE WERE DEMOCRATS WHO WERE PREPARED TO BOOT THE PARTY. >>ALL THE WHITE DEMOCRATS BECAME REPUBLICAN, JUST OVERNIGHT. >> (NARRATOR) EPTON FOR MAYOR BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. >> THE NIGHT OF THE ELECTION I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT WE WERE GONNA MAKE A COMPLETE BREAK THROUGH THAT NIGHT AND WHEN THE FIRST REPORTS CAME IN THEY HAD HAROLD AHEAD. THEN LATER REPORTS CAME IN AND HAROLD'S NUMBERS WERE GROWING. AT THAT POINT BLACK PEOPLE ALL OVER CHICAGO STOPPED WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND GOT IN THEIR CARS AND CAME TO MCCORMICK CAMP. A JUBILEE HAPPENED THAT NIGHT. >> THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO SAID IN THEIR LIFETIME THEY'D NEVER THOUGHT THAT THEY WOULD SEE A BLACK MAYOR. >>IT'S OUR TURN. >>IT WAS ONE OF THE PROUDEST DAYS IN MY LIFE. >> THE PRIDE AND JOY WE FELT AT THAT TIME. >> IT WAS EUPHORIA! >>BUSINESS AS USUAL WOULD NOT BE ACCEPTED BY THIS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THIS GREAT CITY. >> THERE'S A TALE OF TWO CITIES. BLACK CHICAGO WAS LIKE FIRED UP. WHITE CHICAGO WAS LIKE, IT WAS A FUNERAL. >> (NARRATOR) SOON AFTER WASHINGTON BECAME MAYOR, ED VRDOLYAK AND ED BURKE LED A UNITED GROUP OF ALDERMEN CALLED "THE 29", AND IT CAMPAIGNED TO BLOCK EVERY PIECE OF LEGISLATION THE MAYOR SUPPORTED. >> THAT WILL MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO. >> (NARRATOR) THESE COUNCIL WARS WOULD LAST FOR THREE YEARS. (CROWD) "WE WANT HAROLD! WE WANT HAROLD!" >> GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, GIVE ME YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES WHO LEARN TO BREATH FREE AND COME NOVEMBER THERE WILL BE A CHANGE, BECAUSE OUR TIME HAS COME! >> THEN JESSE RAN, THIS WAS A MAJOR EVENT IN OUR HISTORY. >> SCHOOLS COST LESS THAN PENITENTIARIES. >> HE IS NOT GOING TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY. THE IDEA THAT JESSE PUT IN MOTION SHOWED US THE POTENTIAL, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ELECTING, THIS COUNTRY'S FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT. (CROWD) "RUN JESSE RUN! >> JESSE SHOULD RUN WITH A PURPOSE, JESSE SHOULD RUN WITH A MISSION. >> BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST SERIOUS CAMPAIGN MOUNTED IN A NUMBER OF STATES. >> OFF THE HEELS AND INSPIRATION OF WHAT WE HAD DONE IN CHICAGO IN ELECTING CHICAGO'S FIRST BLACK MAYOR. THE RUN AGAIN OF JESSE JACKSON IN 1988, THE HONORABLE MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN JOINED THE CAMPAIGN OF JESSE JACKSON AND HELPED JESSE FILL UP STADIUMS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. JESSE AND FARRAKHAN ON THE ROAD TOGETHER FOR SEVERAL MONTHS PUT THIS IDEA OUT HERE. FARRAKHAN PUT THAT IDEA OUT THERE, IN A WAY THAT JESSE COULDN'T. THAT'S WHY IT'S IMPORTANT. >> ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD YOU GO, ISRAEL, EGYPT, ROME, SHANGHAI, TOKYO, NAIROBI, ZIMBABWE. NOW, YOU GO TO ANY OF THOSE PLACES AND YOU SAY YOU'RE FROM CHICAGO. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO SAY TO YOU? "HOW'S HAROLD?" >> (NARRATOR) HAROLD WASHINGTON EASILY WON RE-ELECTION IN 1987. BUT BY THE END OF THE YEAR, WASHINGTON WAS DEAD. >> I SHOULD LET YOU KNOW, THAT MAYOR WASHINGTON WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD THIS AFTERNOON AT 1:36. >> IT WAS A TRAGEDY, A CITY WIDE TRAGEDY, A TRAGEDY FOR THE WHITE PEOPLE, BLACK PEOPLE, LATINOS AND EVERYBODY. >> FOR GOD NEVER TAKES A ROSE, BUT IF YOU LOOK ON THE STEM, YOU SEE A BUD OF A NEW ONE, ABOUT TO BLOSSOM. >> I'LL SEE YOU IN THE MORNING BUDDY. WE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. WE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. WE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. >> (NARRATOR) WASHINGTON HAD PROVED IT WAS POSSIBLE TO WIN AGAINST LARGE POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS. >> WHEN THURGOOD MARSHALL DIED, AND THE FIRST PRESIDENT BUSH APPOINTED A SUCCESSOR, WHO WAS OF THE SAME COLOR BUT REALLY DID NOT SHARE ANY OF THE VALUES OF THURGOOD MARSHALL AND I WENT AND VISITED WITH, TWICE IN FACT, OUR INCUMBENT DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ALAN DIXON, TO SAY THAT I HOPED HE WOULD NOT SUPPORT THAT NOMINATION. AND I DON'T THINK HE FULLY UNDERSTOOD HOW CORE, HOW CENTRAL, THIS WAS AS AN ISSUE FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME. AND I FEAR THAT WE'VE SEEN A SHORT DRIFT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE CHARACTER ISSUES PERTAINING TO JUDGE THOMAS THIS, MISS HILLS ALLEGATIONS WERE BEFORE THE COMMITTEE, AT LEAST SUFFICIENTLY FOR THEM TO HAVE UNDERTAKEN TO DO THE INVESTIGATION. THE FBI CERTAINLY SHOULD'VE DONE MORE. THE COMMITTEE SHOULD'VE DEMAND MORE. >> MR. PRESIDENT, THAT MEANS THAT JUDGE THOMAS IS ENTITLED TO A PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE. >> WELL THAT'S IT, AND THAT'S WHEN I THREW MY HAT IN THE RING AND RAN I FIGURED OKAY, IF I DO NOTHING BUT MAKE A STATEMENT THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING TO DO. >> BRAUN IS HOPING ULTIMATELY TO BEAT THE ODDS AND BECOME THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN U.S SENATOR. >>I WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN DEMOCRAT ELECTED TO THE SENATE, EVER. SO I FELT CONFIDENT ALL ALONG THAT WE HAD A REAL GOOD SHOT AT WINNING THE ELECTION AND IN FACT WE DID WIN IT, I WASN'T SURPRISED. I RAN FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE MY LITTLE NIECE WHO WAS 10, SHE WAS LOOKING AT HER SOCIAL STUDIES BOOK AND PICTURES OF THE PRESIDENT'S YOU KNOW, IN THE MIDDLE, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY ALL OF THE PRESIDENTS LOOKED THE SAME SHE LOOKED AT ME AND SAID "BUT AUNTIE CAROL ALL THE PRESIDENTS ARE BOYS." I CALL MYSELF A RECOVERING POLITICIAN. >> AS WE HAVE HAD HAD A TIME CONTINUUM OF PROGRESS IN OUR SOCIETY, THERE'S ALSO A CONTINUUM OF RACISM. PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR. I MEAN, IT'S JUST NOT GOING TO GO IN A STRAIGHT LINE. IT'S GOING TO TAKE TURNS AND TWISTS. AND IT IS THE RACISM THAT HAS CAUGHT UP TO OUR PROGRESS THAT MAKES US LOOK LIKE AND FEEL LIKE NOTHING ELSE HAS BEEN DONE, BUT THE REALITY IS THAT IT HAS. >> I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE CAN DO IS TO HAVE AN HONEST CONVERSATION SO WE DON'T WIND UP WITH A BACKLASH ON THE ISSUE OF RACE IN THIS COUNTRY. >> (NARRATOR) IN 1985 A YOUNG COMMUNITY ORGANIZER BARACK OBAMA CAME TO CHICAGO, INSPIRED BY HAROLD WASHINGTON'S MOMENTUM. OBAMA WOULD FOLLOW IN WASHINGTON'S FOOTSTEPS BY SERVING IN THE ILLINOIS STATE SENATE. MANY OF HAROLD WASHINGTON'S STRATEGISTS WOULD JOIN OBAMA AND HIS FIGHT FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT. >> THE EMOTIONAL HIGH MOMENT WAS IOWA. BECAUSE THAT WAS A DAY, WE DIDN'T KNOW WE WERE GOING TO WIN. >> AT THAT MOMENT, I THOUGHT, YOU KNOW WHAT, WE GOT A SHOT AT THIS. >> WE ARE READY TO BELIEVE AGAIN, THANK YOU IOWA. >> GOING TO THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION WAS A SPECIAL, SPECIAL EXPERIENCE. WITH HILARY CLINTON PLEDGING HER SUPPORT FOR THE PRESIDENT AND TAKING HIM SORT OF OVER THE TOP, THOSE WERE POWERFULLY PROFOUND MOMENTS FOR ME. >> LET'S DECLARE TOGETHER IN ONE VOICE, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW THAT BARRACK OBAMA IS OUR CANDIDATE AND HE WILL BE OUR PRESIDENT. >> (NARRATOR) WHEN IT WAS CLEAR THAT OBAMA WAS VICTORIOUS, CHICAGO WAS OVERWHELMED WITH PRIDE. >> HELLO CHICAGO! >> (NARRATOR) OBAMA'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH IN GRANT PARK HAD NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE, BUT IT WAS ALSO A HEALING MOMENT FOR THE CITY. >> AS I REFLECT THERE WERE TWO OR THREE THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN GRANT PARK THAT NIGHT. >> I RECEIVED EMAILS FROM MY FRIENDS DESCRIBING WHAT GRANT PARK WAS LIKE TO THEM, THE STANDING IN LINE. >> WE STOOD IN THE SAME PARK FORTY YEARS EARLIER FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION PROTESTING THE WAR IN VIETNAM. >>AND THE FEELING OF CAMARADERIE AND KINSHIP AND GOOD WILL. >> SO IN THAT SAME PARK WAS THIS NIGHT OF PEACE. >> IT WAS DESCRIBED AS AN UNBELIEVABLE FEELING AND UNBELIEVABLE TIME TO BE A CHICAGOAN. >> I WISH FOR A MOMENT THAT DR. KING, MEDGAR EVERS OR SCHWERNER, GOODMAN, CHANEY, AND SOME OF THE MARCHERS ON THE BRIDGE IN SELMA THOSE OTHER NAMELESS, FACELESS PEOPLE, COULD HAVE BEEN THERE, JUST FOR A MOMENT, I MEAN, I FELT THE SPIRITS IN MY BODY AS I THOUGHT OF THAT I BEGAN TO WEEP. >>AN OBAMA MOMENT IS WHEN PEOPLE START CRYING AND I NEVER THOUGHT I'D LIVE TO SEE THIS DAY. >> SO MANY CONCEPTS HAVE BEEN BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS. >> I THINK IT'S ALL OVER. >> HIS ELECTION WAS A TRANSFORMATIONAL MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY. THE FIRST OBAMA MOMENT WAS THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. >> AND IMAGINE ALL THE LITTLE GIRLS WHO SEE THESE GIRLS IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND THEY IMAGINE POSSIBILITIES THAT MY MOTHER COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED FOR HERSELF. >> WE STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO THE POINT THAT GIRLS CAN BE ELECTED TOO. WE'RE STILL ON THE BOYS, BUT. >> HIS WIFE IS JUST AS BRILLIANT AS HE IS. MONTGOMERY - AN OBAMA MOMENT. >> IT'S BEAUTIFUL THAT A BLACK MAN IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. >> AND MOST OF ALL WHEN PRESIDENT EISENHOWER SENT THE TROOPS TO LITTLE ROCK. TO SEE, THESE AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN LITTLE ROCK ESCORTING THESE NINE CHILDREN. >> I LOVE THIS KIND OF RADICAL CHANGE. >>BARACK OBAMA COMING FROM A NON-PRIVILEGED BACKGROUND, BUT ALSO OF COLOR HAS BROKEN THAT MOLD ALSO. >> THE DAY DIDN'T CHANGE EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY. >> BUT I THINK ANYBODY WHO SUGGESTS THAT RACISM IS DEAD IN THIS TIME, I THINK THE EVIDENCE BEARS THAT OUT AS NOT BEING TRUE. AND WE THOUGHT IT WAS THE END. >> AND IT JUST HASN'T HAPPENED YET. WE'RE GETTING THERE. >> YOU GOT TO KEEP PUSHING, YOU GOT TO KEEP MOBILIZING OR ELSE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET IT. >> THE REASON THAT BARACK OBAMA CAME OUT OF CHICAGO BECAUSE, CHICAGO IS THE CITY OF BROAD SHOULDERS; POWER IS THE ETHIC IN CHICAGO. >> BARACK OBAMA I THINK WITH A FAIR AMOUNT OF RESPECT BORROWED THE HERITAGE OF BLACK CHICAGO. >> WE KNOW HOW TO ORGANIZE. AND FOUND WAYS TO TRANSLATE ITS MORE APPEALING ELEMENTS INTO A NATIONAL STORY. >> THANK YOU ILLINOIS! >>AND FIND A WAY TO CONTAIN SOME OF IT'S MORE CONTROVERSIAL ELEMENTS. >> ONLY OUT OF CHICAGO. BARACK OBAMA'S STORY IS A STORY THAT CONFORMS TO THE FLOW, THE SPIRIT OF THE HERITAGE OF BLACK CHICAGO. â™ª THIS IS NO ORDINARY STORY, â™ª â™ª YOU SEE. â™ª â™ª THIS IS A TALE ABOUT A BIG, â™ª â™ª SMALL TOWN. â™ª â™ª A TOWN THAT SOMEHOW SITS â™ª â™ª IN THE CENTER OF A NATION, â™ª â™ª THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, â™ª â™ª THE CENTER OF THE MAP. â™ª â™ª MISSISSIPPI'S STEP CHILD, â™ª â™ª DUSABLE'S BABY, â™ª â™ª A GANGSTA'S PARADISE â™ª â™ª THAT'S HOME OF THE HIGHEST â™ª â™ª CONCENTRATION OF BLACKS. â™ª â™ª AND IN THE BEGINNING, â™ª â™ª THE WEST SIDE â™ª â™ª AND THE SOUTH SIDE IS WHERE â™ª â™ª YOU WOULD FIND THEM AT. â™ª â™ª YOU SEE THE STORY STARTS â™ª â™ª IN MY CROOKED LETTER, â™ª â™ª CROOKED LETTER â™ª â™ª WHERE THE GREAT MIGRATION â™ª â™ª BEGAN. â™ª â™ª SOME HEADED UP SOUTH â™ª â™ª FOR OPPORTUNITIES, SOME RAN, â™ª â™ª SOME GOT RAN â™ª â™ª UP OFF THEY LAND. â™ª â™ª AND SLAVES AND SHARECROPPERS â™ª â™ª WHOSE ONLY PLAN â™ª â™ª WAS TO TAKE CARE OF... â™ª >>( ANNOUNCER) THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE FOLLOWING. AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION, FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU. THANK YOU. >> (ANNOUNCER) BE MORE, PBS.

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Channel: WTTW

Views: 10,531

Rating: undefined out of 5

Keywords: Dusable to obama chicagos black metropolis, Jean Baptiste DuSable, race riot, race riot 1919 chicago, race riot 1919, president obama, obama chicago, pullman porters, pullman porters documentary, harlem globetrotters, barack obama, quinn chapel, chicago history, chicago documentary, jean baptiste pointe dusable, race riots chicago 1919, race riots of 1919

Id: TWtSr8gkJGA

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 76min 58sec (4618 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021