Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District - Chicago, Illinois

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Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District - Chicago, Illinois. "Bronzeville," was first known as "Black Metropolis," the area in Chicago that was developed and occupied by the African American’s fleeing the oppression of the South.

There are 9 structures left of this era. Developed during the first decades of the 20th century, this "city-within-a-city" was home to numerous nationally prominent, African-American-owned and -operated businesses and cultural institutions. This district offered a commercial alternative to the race restrictions and indifference that characterized much of the city during the early part of the 20th century. Between 1910 and 1920, during the peak of the "Great Migration," the population of the area increased dramatically when thousands of African-Americans fled the oppression of the south and emigrated to Chicago in search of industrial jobs. Further development of the area was halted by the onset of the Great Depression. Many famous people were associated with the development of the area including: Jesse Biga, banker ; Anthony Overton, entrepreneur; Joesph Jordan, musician; Andrew "Rube" Foster, founder of the Negro National Baseball League; Ida B. Wells, a civil rights activist, journalist and organizer of the NAACP; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman pilot; and Louis Armstrong, the legendary trumpet player and bandleader who performed at many of the area’s night clubs.

Bronzeville Visitor Information Center is a 4,000 sq. ft., Wi-Fi accessible space snakes through both floors of the 85-year-old Supreme Life Building¹s eastern wing. It offers offices, a conference room and gallery space. "Bronzeville to Harlem", the painted bronze sculpture work of School of the Art Institute professor Preston Jackson, is displayed upstairs. Black and white photographs of local people and places by Aleksandrovina Daria Amerik line the second floor walls.

Bronzeville is a lakefront community, 10 minutes from downtown Chicago. There are numerous tour companies to contact for tours of this district.