WEBVTT - 121623 Way Black History Fact The Black Founder of Chicago

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<v Speaker 1>But for now it's time for the Way Black History Fact.

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<v Speaker 1>So today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Underground

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<v Speaker 1>Beach Club. From the Streets to the Beach. For the

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<v Speaker 1>latest in beachwear, visit Underground Beach Club dot com. And

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<v Speaker 1>today we're going to talk about a man named John

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<v Speaker 1>Baptiste Point du Sable. No, I'm not saying that, right,

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<v Speaker 1>but this guy is the man because he is a

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<v Speaker 1>person who founded and settled Chicago. Didn't know this, so

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<v Speaker 1>I will share it again. This comes from Wikipedia, So

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<v Speaker 1>take this, you know how you take it. But it's

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<v Speaker 1>more reputable source than me, right, but there are more

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<v Speaker 1>reputable sources. This just kind of gave me the format

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<v Speaker 1>I needed for today. Sure forgive me anyway. Jean Baptiste

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<v Speaker 1>Point du Sable was is regarded as the first permanent

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<v Speaker 1>non native settler of what would later become Chicago, Illinois,

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<v Speaker 1>and is recognized as the founder of Chicago. A school, museum,

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<v Speaker 1>Harbor Park, bridge, and road have been named in his honor.

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<v Speaker 1>The site where he's settled, near the mouth of the

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<v Speaker 1>Chicago River around seventeen eighty, is recognized as a National

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<v Speaker 1>Historic Landmark. Now located in Pioneer Court Point Disable was

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<v Speaker 1>of African descent, but little else is known of his

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<v Speaker 1>early life prior to the seventeen seventies. During his career,

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<v Speaker 1>the areas where he settled and traded around the Great

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<v Speaker 1>Lakes and in the Illinois County country changed hands several

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<v Speaker 1>times between France, Britain, Spain, and the United States. Described

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<v Speaker 1>as handsome and well educated, Point Disable married a Pottawamie

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<v Speaker 1>Native American woman, Kiti Hawa, and they had two children.

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<v Speaker 1>In seventeen seventy nine, during the American Revolutionary War, he

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<v Speaker 1>was arrested by the British on suspicion of being an American

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<v Speaker 1>patriot sympathizer. In the early seventeen eighties, he worked for

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<v Speaker 1>the British Lieutenant Governor Governor of Michill Mackinach on an

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<v Speaker 1>estate at what is now Saint Clair, Michigan. Makes sense.

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<v Speaker 1>Point Disables is first recorded as living at the mouth

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<v Speaker 1>of the Chicago River in a trader's journal of early

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen ninety. By then, he had established in an extensive

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<v Speaker 1>and prosperous trading settlement in what would later become the

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<v Speaker 1>city of Chicago. He sold his Chicago River property in

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen hundred and moved to the port of Saint Charles,

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<v Speaker 1>where he was licensed to run a ferry across the

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<v Speaker 1>Missouri River. Point Disable's successful role in developing the Chicago

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<v Speaker 1>River settlement was little recognized until the mid twentieth century.

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<v Speaker 1>There are no records of point Disable's life prior to

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<v Speaker 1>the seventeen seventies, though it is known from sources during

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<v Speaker 1>his life that he was of African descent. His birth date,

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<v Speaker 1>place of birth, and parents are unknown. Juliette Kinsey, another

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<v Speaker 1>early pioneer of Chicago, never met Point DuSable, but said

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<v Speaker 1>in her eighteen fifty six Menmoir that he was quote

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<v Speaker 1>a native of Saint Domingo, the island of Hispanolia. This

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<v Speaker 1>became generally accepted as his place of birth. Historian Milo

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<v Speaker 1>Milton Quaif regarded Kinsey's account of Point Disable as largely

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<v Speaker 1>fictitious and wholly unauthenticated, later putting forward a theory that

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<v Speaker 1>he was of African and French Canadian in origin. A

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<v Speaker 1>historical novel published in nineteen fifty three helped to popularize

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<v Speaker 1>the claim that Point Disable was born in seventeen forty

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<v Speaker 1>five in Saint Mark and Sante Do Ming later known

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<v Speaker 1>as Haiti if he was born outside of continental North America.

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<v Speaker 1>There are some competing accounts as to whether he entered

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<v Speaker 1>as a trader from north through French Canada or from

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<v Speaker 1>the south through French Louisiana. At some time in seventeen eighties,

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<v Speaker 1>after the US achieved independence, Point Disable settled on the

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<v Speaker 1>north bank of the Chicago River, close to its mouth.

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<v Speaker 1>The earliest known record of Point Disabled living in Chicago

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<v Speaker 1>is an entry that Heward made in his journal on

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<v Speaker 1>May tenth, seventeen ninety during a journey from Detroit across

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<v Speaker 1>Michigan through Illinois. Heward's party stopped at Point Disable's house

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<v Speaker 1>and wrote to Chicago Portage. They swapped their canoe for

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<v Speaker 1>a puroaqu that belonged to Point Disable, and they brought bread, flour,

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<v Speaker 1>and pork for him. Parish Georgian, who visited Chicago in

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen ninety four, described him as a large and wealthy trader.

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<v Speaker 1>So they're Chicago for you.