CHATHAM
Compiled by AV Benford, Neighborhood Captain
WILLIAM BENFORD AT TRACK'S END. PHOTO BY AV BENFORD
T
he bones of the dream of Black economic sovereignty still mark the corridors of Chatham. Lining 87th, 79th, and 75th Streets going from east to west, and State Street, King Drive, and Cottage Grove Ave heading from north to south, are buildings whose whitewashed terra cotta majesty and sheer size indicate that once they served the higher capitalistic purposes of industry or banking. Chatham was once the center of major Black-owned commercial industry in Chicago, housing the headquarters of Johnson Products Company (Ultra Sheen Hair Products)—but just as if not more importantly, Chatham was a cornerstone of Black banking in the United States. Seaway National Bank of Chicago, Independence Bank of Chicago, and a branch of the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Association all once called the area home. Independence Bank of Chicago, which was founded in Chatham, in part by Johnson, was one of the nation's largest Black-owned banks until 1995 when 30 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
¬ NOVEMBER 25, 2020
another corporation acquired it. Revitalization of the commercial districts along 75th and 79th Streets have brought new lifeblood and energy into the area in recent years, but 87th street—whose banks built modern Black Chicago—remains stuck in a dimly lit late nineties bubble of crumbling parking lots, reckless speeding, fried food, and trash. When George Floyd was killed earlier this summer the outpouring of pent-up rage brought the heaviest rioting the area had ever seen. Cracks in the social contract became violent fractures and after the looting and the burning, I questioned whether the area would ever be commercially viable again. But there are bright spots in the midst of it all. This is a salute to the light. (AV Benford) Neighborhood Captain AV Benford is a staff writer for the Weekly
