by Cieslafdn | Oct 16, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
The rehabilitation of the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments moved one step closer to reality on Friday. The package of grants, tax-free bonds, tax credits and TIF funds proposed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in September to help finance the construction of over 200 affordable apartments was approved at the Finance Committee meeting on October 11th. 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell posted a press release on the front page of her website, which you can read here.
It’s great to see this project finally coming together. Stay tuned to this blog for more updates.
by Cieslafdn | Oct 7, 2013 | Social Justice Work
According to an article in Chicago Sun-Times Chicago will once again have a school named for one of its most famous residents, Olympian Jesse Owens. In June, a school named for Owens in the far South Side community of West Pullman closed to consolidate with another school, which is named for Samuel Gompers. It’s expected that the city’s Board of Education will take the Gompers local school council’s recommendation to rename the consolidated Gompers school for Owens.
The Sun-Times story includes quotes from Owens’ daughter, Gloria Owens Hemphill, who was dismayed when the original Owens school closed and is happy to see that he will be honored once again. Hemphill recalled that, to her father, “every child was a champ, all they needed was the opportunity to be one.”
Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe in 1936
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Those comments echoed what Chicago historian Timuel Black told us while we were interviewing him about the Rosenwald Apartments, a large block of apartments built by Julius Rosenwald in 1929 that was home to many of Chicago’s black middle class at the time. Some of the famous people that made their home there were Robert Taylor, Joe Louis, Quincy Jones, Duke Ellington, Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens. Black described the remarkably close relationship Metcalfe, Louis and Owens had with the children in the neighborhood. While working out in nearby Washington Park, Black said, Owens and Metcalfe would run alongside the kids. “For those of my generation,” Black said, they were “like our big brothers.”
Timuel Black
Photo credit: The Ciesla Foundation, 2011
Click here to read more at the Sun-Times.
by Cieslafdn | Oct 2, 2013 | Rosenwald Fund
Welcome Inn Manor is a bed and breakfast located in a mansion on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, across the street from the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments.
Among their lovely rooms is one named for the creator of that apartment block at 47th and Michigan, Julius Rosenwald. Colloquially known as “The Rosenwald,” the building was opened in 1929 and is in the process of being rehabilitated after standing vacant for decades.
Photo credit: The Welcome Inn Manor
The Rosenwald Suite is graced by an illustration of Julius Rosenwald on the wall. Mell from Welcome Inn Manor told us that it was created and gifted by a former guest, Ian Young. It appears to have drawn its source from a 1929 image of J.R. on the White House steps, seen here:
Photo credit: The Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection
Click here to book your stay in the Rosenwald Suite Retreat.
by Cieslafdn | Oct 2, 2013 | Rosenwald Grant Recipients
In a small, tranquil traffic island park next to tree-lined Riverside Drive in the western part of Harlem, New York, stands a memorial to the great writer of The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison. The bronze sculpture is a large slab with the outline of a figure cut out of it, symbolizing the “universal, genderless” invisible man. After moving to New York in 1936, Ellison lived in a building across the street for much of his life.
The sculpture is by Elizabeth Catlett, an extraordinary teacher, sculptor and print-maker who died last year. She is probably best known for her series of prints called “The Negro Woman.” Although her work is on display in many major museums and galleries, this sculpture was her only commissioned work in New York when it was unveiled in 2003. Both Catlett and Ellison were Rosenwald fellows.
We were recently able to visit the memorial in person and take some photographs, which are posted below. The building pictured is 730 Riverside Drive, Ellison’s home. Be sure to click through the images to see larger versions. To learn more about the memorial click here.
Photo credit: Christine M. Rose, September 2013
Photo credit: Christine M. Rose, September 2013
Photo credit: Christine M. Rose, September 2013
Photo credit: Christine M. Rose, September 2013
Photo credit: Christine M. Rose, September 2013
Photo credit: Christine M. Rose, September 2013
by Cieslafdn | Sep 27, 2013 | Rosenwald Grant Recipients
On Tuesday, during the United Nations General Assembly, First Lady Michelle Obama held a luncheon for the spouses of heads of state at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Obama talked about the great artists that had lived and worked in Harlem during the twentieth century, mentioning several Rosenwald fellows including Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglas and Zora Neale Hurston. The event brought spouses of world leaders together with area artists, art students and high school students.
Read more at The New York Times.
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