Last year Chicago’s Congress Parkway, the southern border of the Loop, was renamed for local resident Ida B. Wells, the renowned investigative journalist, anti-lynching activist, and suffragist. It was the first-ever downtown Chicago roadway to be named for an African-American woman.
Right now aldermen are considering an ordinance to rename a much more iconic roadway for another local Black trailblazer. As originally reported by Block Club’s Alex Nitkin, the group Black Heroes Matter has long called for renaming Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who established a trading post near the modern-day Michigan Avenue bridge. Regarded as the permanent first non-Native resident of the area, he is considered to be the founder of Chicago.