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Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO â Ephraim Martin has been asking Chicago, and asking Chicago, and asking Chicago, for years to honor Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the first permanent non-indigenous settler of the land that became Chicago. Heâs been asking for nearly 30 years. Heâs asked the city to erect a 25-foot statue of DuSable, and to create a DuSable city holiday. He also wants Lake Shore Drive renamed for DuSable. Heâs been pushing the idea for ages. Martin, like DuSable, was an immigrant: DuSable was Haitian, and Martin, chairperson of the Black Heroes Matter coalition and a longtime festival organizer in Chicago, is from Jamaica. But soon after he arrived in 1980 and found work at the Chicago Defender, he realized he already shared something in common with many native Chicagoans: Heâd never heard of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, either.
CHICAGO — Ephraim Martin has been asking Chicago, and asking Chicago, and asking Chicago, for years to honor Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the first permanent non-indigenous settler of the land