Chicago, IL, 1915 - Carter G. Woodson, a graduate of the University of Chicago, traveled to Washington, D.C., to celebrate and serve as an exhibitor for the 50th anniversary of emancipation. Illinois helped sponsor the national celebration showcasing Black history and accomplishments. Inspired, Woodson returned to Chicago resolved to promote the study of Black life and history. Later that year, Woodson was among the founders of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History – now known as the Association for the Study of African American and History (ASALH) – and The Journal of Negro History was published in 1916.

A member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Woodson leveraged his fraternity brothers’ networks, but Woodson and the ASALH wanted greater exposure and impact. The organization established Negro History Week in February, 1926.

The choice of February was savvy, since the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had been traditionally celebrated in the Black community. Rather than try to create a new tradition, Woodson sought to promote the study of Black history by encompassing Negro History Week in already established celebrations. Woodson also had a larger goal in mind; he would transform a celebration of singularly great figures into the celebration of the wider contributions and accomplishments of the Black community.

Although the celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, during the nation’s bicentennial, the path to expanding Black History Month is multifaceted and goes as far back as the 1940s. Black civic leaders in West Virginia, cultural activists in Chicago and young Blacks on college campuses were instrumental in the eventual expansion. Before his death in 1950, Woodson believed that Black history celebrations would eventually come to an end, envisioning an environment where Black accomplishments, history and studies would be an established facet of annual learning.

Fairhaven is a town every REALTOR® should visit, online that is. This innovative new training platform is a fair housing simulation training for REALTORS® that uses the power of storytelling to help members identify, prevent, and address discriminatory practices in real estate. And the best part? It comes to you as a complimentary NAR benefit! Be an advocate for fair housing and the future of our industry. Commit to combating discrimination in real estate. Learn more about Fairhaven and start exploring this fictional town today!

Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America by Beryl Satter.

Described as "Part family story and part urban history, a landmark investigation of segregation and urban decay in Chicago—and cities across the nation" Beryl Satter's Family Properties should be on your "to-do" list of books to read. 

The Contract Buyers League was a grassroots organization made up of Black homeowners in Chicago who pushed back on the practice of contract home sales. These housing contracts—which often represented the only gateway to homeownership for low-income minorities in the 1960s and ’70s—were typically sold by investment companies at prices significantly higher than the amounts that speculators paid for the properties.

To commemorate Black History Month, we honor two of our strong and influential leaders, former Presidents Dale Taylor and Tonya Corder.

Chicago’s pioneering black residents of the mid-19^th century were often referred to as the “Old Settlers.” Prominent among them were Joseph and Anna Hudlin, who are credited with constructing the first home built by a black family during the 1850s. The cottage escaped the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Anna Hudlin made the home available to fire refugees, earning her the title “Fire Angel.”

The Great Migration found southern blacks making the journey north seeking a better life. It brought more African-Americans to Chicago from Mississippi than any other state, especially during and after World War II. Many African-Americans settled in a strip of the South Side known as the Black Belt and with them they brought their love for music. They introduced us to the Delta blues, the foundation of the classic post-war Chicago blues style.

Among the thousands of Mississippians who arrived on Illinois Central trains at Central Station was Muddy Waters, who became king of Chicago blues. A plaque honors The Blues Trail on the southeast corner of Grant Park, across the street from what was then Central Station from 1893-1974. Buddy Guy’s Legends in the South Loop offers up-and-coming and famous acts seven nights a week alongside New Orleans-inspired dishes. Chicago Blues Festival, the largest free blues festival in the world, takes place in June in Millennium Park. Taking to the stage in the past include Ray Charles, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Koko Taylor.

Dearborn Realtist Board - Chicago Realtist is the local chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), and is the oldest African American real estate trade association, established in 1941. Their mission is to address the Real Estate Professional and Community's need for expanding the understanding and realization of housing and economic opportunities within the field of real property for all people.

“It’s up to all of us - black, white, everyone - no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work...”

-Michelle Obama

A freed slave from Kentucky, Israel Blackburn, settled in the Downers Grove area in 1866 after serving in the 124th U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. He bought 3.5 acres, became a market gardener and hauled loads for hire. In 1873, Blackburn was one of 38 people who signed papers to incorporate the village. There are no records of any family members, and Blackburn, who died in 1902, is the only African-American buried in the Main Street cemetery

In 1966 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began an effort to challenge civil rights abuses in Chicago. This challenge was called the Chicago Freedom Movement. It marked the first effort by the SCLC and the southern Civil Right Movement to mount a sustained campaign in the urban North.

Shortly after his arrival in the city, King began his first experiment in methods to empower residents of the slums. In February, tenants at 1321 S. Hamlin came to King for help. The SCLC and CCCO together with the Westside Federation became extralegal 'trustees' of the building with the tenants paying their rent to the SCLC, which used the money to make repairs. Male tenants of the building were hired as laborers and paid King's proposed new minimum wage, $2.00 per hour. (The minimum wage in 1966 was $1.25.) King told Betty Washington, a reporter for the Defender, that the experiment of taking over that building would give Movement leaders insight into "the kind of social planning that might reverse this trend of degradation of our nation's cities and contribute to the kind of community awareness that will bring new life and new hope to the slums of this city."

It’s a history that has been largely forgotten, even though some monumental physical traces remain. The 370th Infantry Regiment is one of only a handful of African American regiments that served in World War I and the only one commanded by all black officers, yet few people know about this unit of young black men from Illinois who fought for a country that beat, lynched, and discriminated against them and people who looked like them.

The United States Army so disrespected the men of the 370th and other black regiments such as the 369th, which was popularly known as “The Harlem Hellfighters,” that it would not allow them into combat alongside their white American comrades. Instead, the African American regiments joined French forces, using French weapons and rations. The only equipment that distinguished them as part of the American force was their uniform.

In the face of such discrimination, both at home and at war, some of the soldiers in the 370th and other regiments that did fight in combat decided to stay in the more tolerant France after the war ended.

Black soldiers that returned to America found a country just as racist as before. In fact, the situation was in many ways worse. Many soldiers in the 370th were from the cultural hotbed Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, which had swelled in population from the Great Migration. More people meant less economic opportunities for the returning soldiers, and also helped bring simmering racial tension in the city to a boil.

Soon after the 370th came home, the 1919 race riots broke out, resulting in the deaths of 38 people and the injury of hundreds more. Having fought to defend their country in Europe, Chicago African American soldiers now fought to defend their community from hatred in their country.

Stroll down the Bronzeville Walk of Fame, where King Drive between 25th and 35th streets—a stately, tree-lined boulevard with grand homes from a bygone era—provides a pensive backdrop.

"Victory Monument" marks the south end of the Walk. This somber sculpture of granite and bronze memorializes the Illinois National Guard's 8th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit that served in World War I as part of the 370th U.S. Infantry.

Ninety-one bronze plaques then unfold along King Drive. Embedded on sidewalks, medians, and crosswalks, these markers stretch along 10 whole blocks. Civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and astronaut Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., are among the Bronzeville residents celebrated here. The Walk shines a spotlight on African-American contributions to U.S. history, culture, science, and more, shaping a consortium of great black minds to rival the figures of the Harlem Renaissance.

Don’t miss Gregg LeFevre's enormous, low-relief bronze map of Bronzeville fixed on the meridian sidewalk just north of 35th. It not only features a street grid but shows off some of Bronzeville's unique vibe as well. "Monument to the Great Northern Migration" stands at the north end of the Walk and serves as a fitting bookend to the permanent outdoor exhibit. 

Illinois REALTORS® made history, naming Ezekiel “Zeke” Morris their 2022 President, Illinois REALTORS® first African Americanto hold the position.

Chance the Rapper is best known for his Billboard-charting mixtape Coloring Book, which was the first streaming-only album to earn a Grammy. An avid social activist in Chicago, he owns the non-profit SocialWorks. He is known for his signature style of wearing a cap with the number "3" on it. 

“We are striving to forge a union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.” – Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate “The Hill We Climb”

As the first Black REALTOR®, LEGACY Home Loans' Founder and CEO Ben Slayton is all too familiar with the challenges Blacks face while working in mortgage and real estate. Ben—along with the leadership at LEGACY— is determined to open the door for future generations by equipping them with the tools needed to succeed. As such, LEGACY Home Loans, which is the nation's largest Black mortgage lender, has partnered with the HBCU Career Development Marketplace to increase the representation of Blacks in mortgage.

Currently, only 3% of the mortgage industry's loan originators are Black. Loan originators play a vital role in educating the public about available lending options and the path to homeownership. By increasing the number of Black loan originators, the company—which is on a mission to fund $1 Billion to new Black homebuyers by year-end 2023—will be able to service more Black communities and help close the 30% homeownership gap.

As a part of its partnership with the HBCU Career Marketplace, LEGACY has selected 14 students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) to be trained and employed as mortgage loan originators upon the program's completion.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

- Barack Obama 44^th President of the United States

In 1866, as the first black graduate of Wheaton College, Edward Sellars became the first black college graduate in Illinois. 

In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African-American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize. She was awarded a Pulitzer in poetry, specifically for a volume titled Annie Allen that chronicled the life of an ordinary black girl growing up in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.

The Globetrotters originated on the Southside of Chicago in 1926 where all the original players were raised. The Globetrotters began as the Savoy Big Five, one of the premier attractions of the Savoy Ballroom, opened in January 1928, a basketball team of Black American players that played exhibitions before dances due to declining dance attendance.

Unconscious bias, how can we overcome this? Watch this video from the Perception Institute and the National Association of REALTORS® to learn how to confront and overcome these unconscious biases. 

Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)

In 1945, the Shelley Family, who were black, bought a home in a neighborhood in which thirty out of thirty-nine parcel owners had signed a restrictive covenant which stated that no home was to be sold to any person who was black, which led to the suit by the neighborhood to undo the sale of the property to the Shelley's.

The Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection applies in this case to prohibit the enforcement of the restrictive covenant at issue due to the fact that the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment apply only where there is state action, which is found in this case due to the action of the Supreme Court of Missouri in enforcing the agreement, the result of which is to deprive the Petitioners of their property.

The Court’s ruling in Shelley v. Kraemer had a significant impact on expanding African American rights in a time when they still suffered under Jim Crow laws.

No matter who you are or your background, everyone can come home to Mainstreet.