Expand<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cEverything is close to the water because of the need to have access to the different trade routes coming in,\u201d Noel said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we have the wreath coming in from the river \u2014 symbolizing how Chicago started.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the DuSable Heritage Association, government officials and other community members gathered in Pioneer Court to commemorate DuSable, Chicago\u2019s first non-indigenous permanent settler. This week marks the 207th anniversary of his death.<\/p>\n
In addition to remembering Chicago\u2019s past, Saturday\u2019s ceremony helped celebrate the city\u2019s multicultural present, Noel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s preservation and awareness of what DuSable and immigrants in general represent for Chicago, the Midwest and the nation as a whole,\u201d said Noel, who came to Chicago from Haiti in the 1970s as a student.<\/p>\n
The consul general of Haiti in Chicago, Jean Joseph Leandre, and Ald. David Moore, 17th, also thanked local organizations and Chicago\u2019s Haitian community for spreading awareness about DuSable\u2019s significance. Moore was one of the City Council members who pushed for Chicago to rename Lake Shore Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive in 2021.<\/p>\n
Speakers also stressed the importance of constructing DuSable Park. In 1987, then-Mayor Harold Washington dedicated land on the north shore of the Chicago River where it meets Lake Michigan for the park.<\/p>\n
The park is nearing the end of its design stage, said Heather Gleason, the Chicago Park District\u2019s planning and construction director. She said the groundbreaking will likely take place in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis park will not only honor Chicago\u2019s diversity, but provide a vital green space,\u201d said Troy McMillan, a board member for Friends of the Parks. The nonprofit has been working with the DuSable Heritage Association and Chicago officials on the DuSable Park project.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s founding family<\/p>\n
While historians are still looking for crucial documentation about DuSable\u2019s life, they generally agree he was born in Haiti during the 1740s. When he was about 25, he left home to settle in what is now the American Midwest, then under the control of the French.<\/p>\n
DuSable married a Potowatomi woman named Kitihawa and often collaborated with the area\u2019s Indigenous people, said Lake Forest College professor Courtney Joseph, who studies African American history. DuSable benefited from his close relationship with Indigenous people already living in the area, Joseph added while giving a walking tour along the Chicago River after the official commemoration.<\/p>\n
DuSable traversed the Midwest as a trader and diplomat, establishing settlements in what\u2019s now Michigan. At one point, he was captured by the British on suspicion of being a Patriot sympathizer during the American Revolution. After 10 to 20 years working and raising a family in his home \u2014 which historians estimate to be where the Tribune Tower now stands, according to Joseph \u2014 DuSable left in 1800 for present-day Missouri for some unknown reason. He died on Aug. 28, 1818.<\/p>\n
After his death, DuSable\u2019s name faded into obscurity until Black advocates in 1930s Chicago started pushing for his recognition. In the following decades, his name slowly made its way onto several public institutions \u2014 starting with DuSable High School in 1935.<\/p>\n
A more recent initiative to adopt the Chicago founder\u2019s name is the University of Illinois Chicago\u2019s DuSable Scholars Program, which supports Black students underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.<\/p>\n
Maame Poku, a biochemistry student in the UIC DuSable program, said it was nice to see members of the Chicago community learning about DuSable\u2019s legacy and supporting the heritage association\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows that people of color and immigrants are able to do things that are big and that can affect a whole population and community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Poku also said after attending Saturday\u2019s celebration that she wants to keep up with how DuSable Park is developing and is excited for \u201chow nice it\u2019s going to look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s dominant historical narrative has often excluded people of color, Joseph said as she gestured during her tour to a plaque on DuSable Bridge dedicated to the first white men who passed through to the Chicago River. The two French explorers, Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, were only temporary passersby, Joseph added.<\/p>\n
Conversely, celebrating and learning about DuSable\u2019s life shows how Chicago can be a city for all people, Joseph said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s important to us,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cHow do we really know our history if we erase people like DuSable?\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: August 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a garland of white flowers in front of him, a lone rower kneeling in a wooden canoe…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":170336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,77589,97387],"class_list":{"0":"post-170335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-jean-baptiste-point-du-sable","12":"tag-pioneer-court"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115080738257591934","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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