2016 GREAT MIGRATION CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION ANNOUNCED
WHO: The Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Commission planning committee, collaborators and stakeholders
WHAT: PRESS BRIEFING
WHERE: Bronzeville Visitors Information Center, 411 E. 35th Street
WHEN: 10 am Wednesday, March 9, 2016
WHY:
To announce plans for the 2016 Great Migration Centennial Celebration, a state-wide year-long Commemoration of the largest mass movement of people in North America and their impact on the city, the state and the nation. The theme is
“Creating a New Promise.”
State Representative Ken Dunkin (5th District), Illinois State Senator Mattie Hunter (3rd District) and Governor Rauner are invited.
The Great Migration Centennial Celebration is presented by the 2016 Great Migration Centennial Commemorative Commission and the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Commission in cooperation with the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE), Choose Chicago, the Chicago Park District, Dept of Planning, Dept of Transportation, Chicago’s cultural, educational, and civic organizations and other businesses and philanthropic organizations.
The Great Migration was instigated by Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender. His scathing and riveting editorials urged Blacks to leave the oppressive South and to seek opportunity up North. His papers were banned in the South and had to be snuck in secretly by the Pullman Porters.
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