AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY Profile picture
Nov 4, 2023 15 tweets 4 min read Read on X
On this day in 1750, Jean Baptist Pointe Desable was born. He founded the city of Chicago.

A THREAD Image
Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable was born in Saint-Domingue, Haiti (French colony at the time) during the Haitian Revolution. At some point he settled in the part of North America that is now known as the city of Chicago and was described in historical documents as "a handsome negro" Image
He married a Native American woman, Kitiwaha, and they had two children. In 1779, during the American Revolutionary War, he was arrested by the British on suspicion of being an American Patriot sympathizer.
In the early 1780s he worked for the British lieutenant-governor of Michilimackinac on an estate at what is now the city of St. Clair, Michigan north of Detroit.
In the late 1700's, Jean-Baptiste was the first person to establish an extensive and prosperous trading settlement in what would become the city of Chicago. Historic documents confirm that his property was right at the mouth of the Chicago River. Image
He was first recorded as living at the mouth of the Chicago River in a trader's journal of early 1790. By then he had established the extensive and prosperous trading settlement.
He sold his Chicago River property in 1800 and moved to the port of St. Charles, where he was licensed to run a ferry across the Missouri River. Point du Sable's successful role in developing the Chicago River settlement was little recognized until the mid-20th century.
Many people, however, believe that John Kinzie (a white trader) and his family were the first to settle in the area that is now known as Chicago, and it is true that the Kinzie family were Chicago's first "permanent" European settlers. Image
But the truth is that the Kinzie family purchased their property from a French trader who had purchased it from Jean-Baptiste.
He died in August 1818, and because he was a Black man, many people tried to white wash the story of Chicago's founding. But in 1912, after the Great Migration, a plaque commemorating Jean-Baptiste appeared in downtown Chicago on the site of his former home.
Image
Image
Later in 1913, a white historian named Dr. Milo Milton Quaife also recognized Jean-Baptiste as the founder of Chicago.
And as the years went by, more and more Black notables such as Carter G. Woodson and Langston Hughes began to include Jean-Baptiste in their writings as "the brownskin pioneer who founded the Windy City."
in 2009, a bronze bust of Jean-Baptiste was designed and placed in Pioneer Square in Chicago along the Magnificent Mile.
Image
Image
There is also a popular museum in Chicago named after him called the DuSable Museum of African American History. Image
You can support my history page/project here through donations/tips to keep up on: ko-fi.com/africanarchives
Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY

AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AfricanArchives

Jun 28
On this day in 1947, Activist & member of the Black Panther Party Mark Clark was born.

He was assassinated together with Fred Hampton by Chicago police & FBI, both at 21 years Old.

William O'Neal, an FBI informant, infiltrated the Panthers & set up them up for $300

A THREAD Image
In Illinois, where Fred Hampton was born, Black communities faced relentless police harassment and systemic barriers to essential services like housing and education in predominantly Black areas.
The Black Panther party, a creation of Huey Newton and fellow student Bobby Seale, insisted on black nationalist response to racial discrimination. The party’s Illinois chapter was opened in 1967 and Hampton joined in 1968, aged just 20. Image
Read 13 tweets
Jun 24
Vicente Guerrero, a black and indigenous mule driver, became a revolutionary leader, Mexico’s 2nd president and abolished but ultimately executed.

The first Black President of Mexico.

A THREAD Image
Born in 1782 in Tixtla, Guerrero’s Afro-Mexican father, Juan Pedro, and Indigenous mother, Guadalupe Saldaña, shaped his roots. He worked as a mule driver, spoke Nahuatl, and built deep ties with Indigenous communities. Image
In 1810, he joined the Mexican War of Independence under José María Morelos. Despite no formal education, Guerrero’s courage and tactics stood out, fighting Spanish colonial rule with the motto “La patria es primero” (My country comes first). Image
Read 9 tweets
Jun 21
Aunt Polly Jackson, was an escaped slave who worked as an agent on the Underground Railroad helping others escape.

She was known for fighting off slave catchers with a butcher knife and a kettle of boiling water.

A THREAD! Image
Aunt Polly Jackson, a former enslaved person, was fed up with the harsh and inhumane treatment that was meted out to her even in her old age and decided to escape to freedom.
She decided to escape via the Underground Railroad. She escaped and ended up in the North settling in Ohio in a settlement known as Africa, a settlement of escaped African Americans who had been offered land to settle.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 19
On this day in 1865, enslaved people in Texas were notified by Union Civil War soldiers about the abolition of slavery. This was 2.5 years after the final Emancipation Proclamation which freed all enslaved Black Americans. #Juneteenth 

But Slavery continued…

A THREAD Image
In 1866, a year after the amendment was ratified, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor. Image
This made the business of arresting black people very lucrative, thus hundreds of white men were hired by these states as police officers.

Their primary responsibility being to search out and arrest black peoples who were in violation of ‘Black Codes’
Read 12 tweets
Jun 18
Eatonville was the first all-Black city that was incorporated in Florida in 1887, located 6 miles north of Orlando.

It's the oldest black incorporated municipality in the U.S. It is the first town successfully established by African American freedmen.

THREAD! Image
The founding of this town stands as an enormous achievement for once enslaved black men and women. Having to live life being considered inferior to the white majority, African Americans finally found some freedom for themselves in Eatonville. Image
The town is the childhood home of Zora Neale Hurston, the most famous writer of the Harlem Renaissance she described it in 1935: "the city of five lakes, three croquet courts, 300 brown skins, 300 good swimmers, plenty guavas, two schools and no jailhouse." . Image
Read 7 tweets
Jun 14
Gert Schramm, aged 15, was arrested and imprisoned in Nazi Germany for the 'crime' of being Mixed Race. He was the only Black prisoner at Buchenwald.

A THREAD Image
In May 1944, the Gestapo( official secret police of Nazi Germany) arrested Schramm in Erfurt under Rassenschande (racial defilement) laws, which criminalized relationships between “Aryans” and “non-Aryans” to enforce Nazi racial purity.
Schramm’s heritage—Black American father, Jack Brankson, an engineer, and German mother, Marianne Schramm—made him a target. His existence defied the Nazis’ hateful ideology of purity.
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(