Douglas, Chicago

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**Douglas (Chicago, Illinois)**
Community Area 35 - Douglas and Community Area 35 - Douglas Image:US-IL-Chicago-CA35.GIF\|300px\|Chicago Community Area 38 - Grand Boulevard]] Location within the city of Chicago
Latitude Longitude	41°49.8′N 87°37.2′W
Neighborhoods	Bronzeville Douglas Groveland Park Lake Meadows Prairie Shores South Commons
ZIP Code	parts of 60609, 60616 and 60653
Area	4.33 km² (1.67 mi²)
Population (2000) Density	26,470 (down 13.64% from 1990) 6,119.8 /km²
Demographics	White Black Hispanic Asian Other	6.59% 85.5% 1.11% 5.25% 1.53%
Median income	$39,800
Source: U.S. Census, Record Information Services

Douglas is a neighborhood located on the south side of Chicago, Illinois.

The community area contains part of the famous neighborhood of Bronzeville, a very famous center of African-American culture in the city.

1 Neighborhoods
- 1.1 Bronzeville
- 1.2 Education
2 External links

[edit] Neighborhoods

[edit] Bronzeville

Bronzeville is a neighborhood located in the Douglas and Grand Boulevard community areas on the South Side of Chicago around the Illinois Institute of Technology and Illinois College of Optometry. It is accessible via the Green, Red Lines of the Chicago Transit Authority or the Metra Electric District Main Line.

In the early 20th century, Bronzeville was known as the "Black Metropolis," one of the nation's most significant landmarks of African-American urban history. Between 1910 and 1920, during the peak of the "Great Migration," the population of the area increased dramatically when thousands of African-Americans fled the oppression of the south and emigrated to Chicago in search of industrial jobs. Many famous people were associated with the development of the area including: Andrew "Rube" Foster, founder of the Negro National Baseball League; Ida B. Wells, a civil rights activist, journalist and organizer of the NAACP; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman pilot; and Louis Armstrong, the legendary trumpet player and bandleader who performed at many of the area's night clubs.

During the 1950s and 1960s, a decision was made to replace the "slums" with several straight miles of high-rise public housing projects, managed by the Chicago Housing Authority, essentially isolating and simultaneously concentrating the poor black population in this section of the city. The largest complex was Robert Taylor Homes. The result was high crime and prolonged disinvestment in the community. Recently, these complexes have begun to be demolished by federal mandate; however, they are being replaced by less than half the number of previously-available public housing units. Crime has gone down, however, which allows the southernmost fringes of the rapid gentrification occurring in the South Loop to be moving into the neighborhood.

[edit] Education

The following Chicago Public Schools campuses serve Bronzeville: Beethoven School and Phillips Academy High School.

[edit] External links

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