The movies Barbershop and Soul Food were filmed on Chicago’s Southside.

Considering a job move here?  There are 35 diversified Fortune 500 companies and hundreds more corporate divisions this diverse regional economy.

Merchandise Mart is the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon.

The "Loop" is the nickname for the heart of downtown Chicago.  The Loop 'L' is commonly used to describe the elevated transit tracks above Wabash, Van Buren, Wells and Lake Streets that began transit service in 1897.

In the Chicago metro area of about 8 million residents, African Americans comprise 1.6 million.

Chicago has more than 6,000 restaurants featuring cuisine from every corner in the globe.

McCormick Place, the largest convention center in the America, has its own concert auditorium and a train station.

Over the 2003-2004 sports seasons Chicago became the first city to have had Black managers/head coaches for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox baseball teams, Chicago Bulls basketball team and Chicago Bears football team – more than any other American city.  And in 2005, the same manager led the White Sox to the World Series Championship.

Notable residents either born here or who lived her during important points in their career.

Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable
1st settler and de facto founder of Chicago

Harold Washington
1st Black mayor of Chicago

Bishop William Paul Quinn
Founded the oldest Black churches in Chicago

Oprah Winfrey
TV personality and studio owner

Richard Wright
Novelist

Andrew “Rube” Foster
Founder of Negro Leagues Baseball

Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey
The Father of Gospel music

Dr. Percy Julian
Physician who developed treatments for arthritis

John H. Johnson
Founder of Ebony and Jet magazines

Sam Cooke
Arguably, the “Father of Soul Music”

R. Kelly
Neo Soul vocalist in the Sam Cooke style

George Johnson
Founder of Johnson Hair Products

Monica Haslip
Founder of Little Black Pearl Art Education Center

Barack & Michelle Obama
Presidential couple?

Mahalia Jackson
“The Queen of Gospel Music”

Michael Jordan
One of the NBA’s two greatest players
 
Walter Payton
One of the NFL’s greatest running backs

Elijah Muhammad
Elevated the Nation of Islam to a national presence

Herman Roberts
1st Black hotel owner in the city

Robert S. Abbott
Founded the Chicago Defender and several other Black newspapers nationwide

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
1st known physician to perform successful open-heart surgery

George R. Brokemond
Founded Seaway National Bank, which was for many years, the largest Black bank in America

Oscar S De Priest
1st Black Congressman in a northern state

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.
Civil rights leader, founder of PUSH Rainbow Coalition and presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988

Jesse Jackson, Jr.
US Congressman representing the Southside

Captain Ernest A. Griffin
Served during the Civil War and became one of the first officers in the nation as a member of the US Colored Troops

Vivian Carter and Jimmy Bracken
Founded Vee Jay Records, arguably the earliest R&B record company

Rev. Clay Evans
Led many civil rights activities in the city in the 1950s and 60s