History often begins for people of color only when they cross paths with Western record keepers. We have to balance the investigative rigor of looking at archival records with the cultural necessity of acknowledging a founder who didn't fit the colonial mold.
Based on research highlighted by Jared Spano, this lesson examines how Jean Baptiste Point du Sable—a Black Haitian trader widely recognized as the founder of Chicago—became marginalized in the city’s historical narrative as later political and ethnic power structures emerged. It explores parallels to shifting control of trade corridors like the Des Plaines River and argues Chicago should more prominently honor its origins, including a major African-American civic celebration.


Von Columbia University Alumni in San Francisco entwickelt
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Lena: You know, Miles, I was walking past Tribune Tower the other day, right by the Chicago River, and I realized I was standing next to a bust of a man we don’t actually know the face of. We have a road, a museum, and a bridge named for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, but his actual appearance is a complete mystery.
Miles: It’s wild, right? He’s officially recognized as the first permanent, non-Indigenous founder of Chicago, yet for a long time, his story was almost entirely written out of the city’s narrative. We’re talking about a man who built a massive, high-end estate with French walnut cabinets and a poultry house decades before Chicago was even incorporated.
Lena: Exactly, but there’s this real tension between the "founder" legend we celebrate now and the way he was marginalized as new power structures moved in. It makes you wonder how much of our history is shaped by who holds the keys to the trade corridors.
Miles: That’s the core of it—how a successful Black Haitian trader became a footnote as the city evolved. Let’s explore how these shifting political and ethnic structures managed to silence such a foundational legacy.