South Side Chicago Neighborhoods

great_northern_migration

Sculptor Alison Saar's "Monument to the Great Northern Migration" in Bronzeville, photo by Scott Benbrook

Containing Chicago’s largest continuous land mass between Lake Michigan, the Chicago River and other waterways, the South Side led the city’s rapid (largely unregulated) development in the 19th century and contains its oldest neighborhoods.

Residential, industrial, commercial, civic, religious and recreational diversity joined with the area’s racial and ethnic diversity to create both cultural synergy (e.g. Chicago’s great jazz district or “Stroll”) and conflict (the 1919 Riot/Insurrection). Here African-Americans found job opportunities (e.g. Chicago’s Union Stockyard) and railroads (e.g. the Illinois Central) that brought them north from the Mississippi Delta in several Great Migrations.

View search results for this topic >>

Explore all curated topics >>

Image URL: Chicago Landmarks | Online Exclusives | Illinois Tech Magazine (iit.edu)

Citation: Sculpture created by Alison Saar and commissioned by the Chicago Public Art project, "Monument to the Great Northern Migration." Photo for IIT publication (URL above) by Scott Benbrook. Sculpture stands at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. and 26th Place.