With bustling nightlife, dining, dancing, music, shopping, and a community of revered thought leaders, Bronzeville was the center of “The Black Metropolis” from the 1920s to the 1950s.
The neighborhood, located on the South Side within the Grand Boulevard and Douglas community areas, was the core of what was once called the “Black Belt” –– originally a narrow stretch of State Street. By 1920, 50,000 black migrants had come to Chicago in search of opportunity and to escape the Jim Crow South.