I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5505 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine 

the feasibility of designating the study area as the Black Metropolis 

District National Heritage Area in the State of Illinois, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2008 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 

study to determine the feasibility of designating the 

study area as the Black Metropolis District National 

Heritage Area in the State of Illinois, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black Metropolis Dis5 trict National Heritage Area Study Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Black Metropolis district on Chicago, 

2 Illinois’ South Side has a cohesive and distinctive 

3 history as well as an important streetscape that dis4 tinguishes the area as worthy of designation as a 

5 National Heritage Area. 

6 (2) The historic features of Chicago’s Black 

7 Metropolis District predate the Great Migration of 

8 1916–1919 and illustrate its influence on African9 American life in Chicago and the Nation as a result 

10 of this demographic phenomenon in which 500,000 

11 African-Americans migrated to the North in search 

12 of work and other opportunities, with 50,000 of that 

13 aggregate relocating in Chicago. 

14 (3) The Black Metropolis, as a setting, wit15 nessed some of the finest accomplishments in Afri16 can-American contributions to Chicago, the State of 

17 Illinois, and the Nation, while its legally and socially 

18 proscribed citizens challenged their environment and 

19 their Nation to fulfill its promise as a place of op20 portunity for all. 

21 (4) These contributions and accomplishments 

22 fall into the following main categories: 

23 (A) BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL

24 PURSUITS.—With State Street developing as 

25 the Black Metropolis District’s ‘‘Wall Street’’, 


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1 the area produced two of the largest Black 

2 banking operations in the Nation in the Binga 

3 State and Douglass National Banks and scores 

4 of smaller businesses ranging from print shops 

5 to restaurants to clothing stores to hair salons 

6 and barbershops. 

7 (B) CULTURE AND AESTHETICS.—The 

8 area emerged as a musical mecca ranging from 

9 jazz to gospel to delta and urban blues to 

10 rhythm and blues and was home for institutions 

11 such as the George Cleveland Hall Branch Li12 brary, which nurtured literary giants such as 

13 Langston Hughes, the South Side Community 

14 Arts Center, and the DuSable Museum of Afri15 can American History and Culture. 

16 (C) EDUCATION.—The area includes the 

17 first public secondary school in the State of Illi18 nois built specifically to accommodate the edu19 cational needs of African-American students, 

20 which opened in 1934 at 4934 South Wabash 

21 Avenue and was named in honor of Chicago’s 

22 first non-native inhabitant and trader, Jean 

23 Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Black man from 

24 Haiti, and whose illustrious graduates include 


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1 Nat ‘‘King’’ Cole and Chicago Mayor Harold 

2 Washington. 

3 (D) GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS.—From 

4 its political bases in the area’s Second Ward 

5 and the First Congressional District, Chicago’s 

6 Black Metropolis proved itself a political center 

7 for all African-Americans, producing the first 

8 African-American to sit in Congress in the 20th 

9 Century, the Honorable Oscar DePriest, as well 

10 as the first African-American Democratic con11 gressman, the Honorable Arthur W. Mitchell, 

12 succeeded by Honorable William L. Dawson, 

13 the Honorable Ralph H. Metcalfe, the Honor14 able Bennett M. Stewart, and the Honorable 

15 Harold Washington, later the city’s first elected 

16 African-American mayor, and the Honorable 

17 Charles A. Hayes. 

18 (E) HEALTH CARE.—The area includes 

19 Provident Hospital, founded in 1891 by the 

20 brilliant African-American surgeon Dr. Daniel 

21 Hale Williams and site of the first successful 

22 suturing of the human heart by Dr. Williams in 

23 1893. 

24 (F) LABOR.—The area was home to mil25 lions of unskilled and semi-skilled AfricanVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:56 Feb 28, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5505.IH H5505

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1 American workers, including the packinghouse 

2 workers who arrived during the Great Migra3 tion and constituted 25 percent of the stock4 yards work force during World War I, and the 

5 Pullman porters who represented a full 20 per6 cent of the Nation’s African-American work7 force during the early 1900s. 

8 (G) MILITARY LIFE AND PATRIOTISM.—Af9 rican-American men enlisted in the Union Army 

10 on the grounds of Camp Douglass within the 

11 Black Metropolis District as part of the 29th 

12 Infantry Regiment of the United States Colored 

13 Troops, and a generation later trained at the 

14 Eighth Regiment Armory nearby before em15 barking for France as part of what President 

16 Wilson referred to as the great crusade to 

17 ‘‘make the world safe for democracy’’ during 

18 the World War I. 

19 (H) RECREATION AND COMPETITIVE

20 SPORTS.—Early on, the Nation’s most popular 

21 sports: baseball, boxing, football, track and bas22 ketball, enjoyed support from the Black Me23 tropolis’ population and drew participants who 

24 earned widespread recognition such as Rube 

25 Foster, a native Chicagoan, who founded the 


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1 Negro Baseball League and its local team, the 

2 American Giants. 

3 (I) RELIGION AND CHURCH ACTIVISM.— 

4 The area includes Quinn Chapel African Meth5 odist Episcopal (A.M.E) Church, an antebellum 

6 center of abolitionist activity, and a major sta7 tion on the Underground Railroad, and with 

8 emancipation, there was another religious move9 ment to provide and protect the civil rights of 

10 all citizens led by Black Metropolis churches 

11 such as Quinn Chapel and Bethel A.M.E. 

12 (J) SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CIVIL RIGHTS.— 

13 It was from within the Black Metropolis Dis14 trict in the early 20th century that Ida B. 

15 Wells-Barnett waged her crusade for justice for 

16 African-Americans and women and worked to 

17 establish the first National Association for the 

18 Advancement of Colored People branch in that 

19 group’s national network in 1912. 

20 (K) STREETSCAPES.—The area includes 

21 many historic locations, including those along 

22 State Street and 35th Street, ranging from the 

23 Overton Hygienic Manufacturing Building at 

24 3617 South State Street and the Chicago Bee 

25 Building at 3647 South State Street (both desVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:56 Feb 28, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5505.IH H5505

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1 ignated as Chicago City Landmarks) to Liberty 

2 Life Insurance Company at 3501 South Park3 way and a monument and park dedicated to 

4 United States Senator Stephen Douglas (des5 ignated as a State Landmark) at Lake Park 

6 Avenue and 35th Street, green and public 

7 spaces, stretching from Chicago’s lakefront to 

8 historic park and boulevard systems to the 

9 West, and is now the proposed site for the 2016 

10 Olympics in the City of Chicago’s bid to host 

11 this event. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) HERITAGE AREA.—The term ‘‘Heritage 

15 Area’’ means the Black Metropolis District National 

16 Heritage Area. 

17 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of the Interior. 

19 (3) STUDY AREA.—The term ‘‘study area’’ 

20 means the region bounded as follows: 

21 (A) 18th Street on the North and 22nd 

22 Street on the South, from Lake Michigan on 

23 the East to Wentworth Avenue to the West. 

24 (B) 22nd Street on the North to 35th 

25 Street on the South, from Lake Michigan on 


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1 the East to the Dan Ryan Expressway on the 

2 West. 

3 (C) 35th Street on the North and 47th 

4 Street on the South, from Lake Michigan on 

5 the East to the B&O Railroad (Stewart Ave6 nue) on the West. 

7 (D) 47th Street on the North to 55th 

8 Street on the South, from Cottage Grove Ave9 nue on the East to the Dan Ryan Expressway 

10 on the West). 

11 (E) 55th Street on the North to 71st 

12 Street on the South, from State Street on the 

13 West to Cottage Grove Avenue/South Chicago 

14 Avenue on the East. 

15 SEC. 4. BLACK METROPOLIS DISTRICT NATIONAL HERIT16 AGE AREA STUDY. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 

18 with the managers of any Federal land within the Herit19 age Area, appropriate State and local governmental agen20 cies, and any interested organizations, shall conduct a 

21 study to determine the feasibility of designating the study 

22 area as the Black Metropolis District National Heritage 

23 Area. 

24 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The study shall include anal25 ysis, documentation, and determinations on whether— 


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1 (1) the study area— 

2 (A) has an assemblage of natural, historic, 

3 cultural, educational, scenic, or recreational re4 sources that together are nationally important 

5 to the heritage of the United States; 

6 (B) represents distinctive aspects of the 

7 heritage of the United States worthy of recogni8 tion, conservation, interpretation, and con9 tinuing use; 

10 (C) is best managed through agreements 

11 between public and private entities at the local 

12 or regional level; 

13 (D) reflects traditions, customs, beliefs, 

14 and folklife that are a valuable part of the her15 itage of the United States; 

16 (E) provides outstanding opportunities to 

17 conserve natural, historical, cultural, or scenic 

18 features; 

19 (F) provides outstanding recreational and 

20 educational opportunities; and 

21 (G) has resources and traditional uses that 

22 have national importance; 

23 (2) residents, business interests, nonprofit orga24 nizations, the Federal Government (including rel25 evant Federal land management agencies), and 


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1 State, local, and tribal governments within the study 

2 area— 

3 (A) are involved in the planning; and 

4 (B) have demonstrated significant support 

5 through letters and other means for designation 

6 and management of the Heritage Area; and 

7 (3) the study area has been identified and sup8 ported by the public, private business, and local and 

9 State agencies. 

10 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

11 Not later than 3 fiscal years after the date on which 

12 funds are made available to carry out the this Act, the 

13 Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Natural Re14 sources of the House of Representatives and the Com15 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 

16 a report that describes the findings, conclusions, and rec17 ommendations of the Secretary with respect to the study. 

Æ 


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