Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, widely recognized as the founder of Chicago, was not white; he was of African and French descent. Born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) around 1745 to an enslaved African mother and a French mariner father, he was a black, French-speaking entrepreneur who established a trading post near the Chicago River in the 1780s.
The first permanent settler in Chicago was a black man named Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. He may have been born on the island of Haiti around 1745 to a French mariner and a mother who was a slave of African descent.
What are some fun facts about Jean Baptiste Point du Sable?
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (born before 1750 – died August 28, 1818) is known as the first person to live permanently in what is now Chicago, Illinois. Because of this, he is called the "Founder of Chicago." Many places are named after him, like a school, a museum, a harbor, a park, and a bridge.
Kitihawa Point du Sable, also known as Catherine, was a Potawatomi woman who, with her husband Jean Baptiste, established the first permanent settlement in what is now the city of Chicago. By the late 1700s, Kitihawa and her husband had set up their farm and trading post on the Chicago River.
Traveling monument seeks to teach story of hidden Chicago co-founder Kitihawa DuSable
Why did Sacagawea marry Charbonneau?
About a year later, when Sacagawea was only 13 years old, her captors forced her to marry French trapper Toussaint Charbonneau. Marriage was a common way for French trappers and Indigenous communities to solidify their trade relationships in the Great Lakes region.
The Chicago area is located on ancestral lands of indigenous tribes, such as the Council of the Three Fires--comprised of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations--as well as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois Nations.
Baptiste is a gender-neutral name of French origin, meaning "one who baptizes" or "to dip." It comes from the Greek βάπτω (bapto), which translates to "to dip," and is derived from the Latin Baptista.
An independent dive team found 97 cars in the Chicago River while searching for clues tied to a 1970 cold case. No remains were discovered yet in the search for Edward and Stephania Andrews. Authorities are reviewing next steps; 75 vehicles have been cleared so far.
Chicago has a large Irish American population, with many still residing on the South Side. The early years of Chicago coincided with the significant rise in Irish immigration in the 1830s and 1840s.
This is evidenced in DNA ancestry read outs where the average Haitian consistently tests at nearly 85-95 percent sub-Saharan African DNA. The remaining population of Haiti is primarily composed of Mulattoes, Europeans, Asians, and Arabs. Hispanic residents in Haiti are mostly Cuban and Dominican.
French and West Indian (mainly Haiti): from the personal name Baptiste, derived from Latin Baptista 'baptist', the distinguishing epithet of Saint John the Baptist, who baptized people, including Jesus Christ, in the river Jordan (Mark 1:9).
Inside, Sacagawea, just sixteen years old, was giving birth to her first child. The baby's father, Toussaint Charbonneau, had lived in a Hidatsa town for years. Sacagawea was one of his two wives.
There are currently five marked Confederate mass graves at Shiloh but there are believed to be more. Several years after the battle took place, the Union dead were moved to the Shiloh National Cemetery and given proper headstones while the Confederate bodies remained in trenches.
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable is the founder of Chicago. Born in Haiti around 1750, Point du Sable traveled to North America in his twenties and settled on the shores of Lake Michigan, an area that would eventually develop into the city of Chicago.
The most-accepted Chicago meaning is a word that comes from the Algonquin language: “shikaakwa,” meaning “striped skunk” or “onion.” According to early explorers, the lakes and streams around Chicago were full of wild onions, leeks, and ramps.
Everyone had heard about the group's Occupation of Alcatraz, the Trail of Broken Treaties, and the Wounded Knee Occupation. AIM brought to light many of the issues Native Americans faced and forced Americans to reevaluate the American Indian. Today, AIM still exists, continued on as a lobbyist group.
