Early Chicago History
This Indigenous Peoples group was the most famou for living in the Chicagoland area.
Who are the Potawatomi?
The Great Chicago fire started on October 8, 1871, and burned for two days, fueled by a drought and the fact that much of the city's infrastructure, including many sidewalks, was made of this material.
What is wood?
This man dominated Chicago politics for decades as mayor while also controlling this powerful political organization.
Who is Richard J. Daley?
Under Chicago’s political machine, the patronage system rewarded supporters with these kinds of government benefits.
What are jobs, promotions, favors, or government positions?
Many African Americans who arrived in Chicago during the Great Migration found work in this dangerous but booming industry.
What are meatpackers (jobs)?
Before Europeans arrived, this major tribal confederation—including the Potawatomi—lived, traded, and traveled throughout the Chicago area.
What is the Council of the Three Fires?
This is the reason historians believe the “cow starting the fire” story caught on, despite a lack of evidence.
What is anti-Irish/anti-immigrant prejudice (scapegoating)?
He created a company town for his railroad-car employees on the city’s South Side; this was the name of the town.
Who is George Pullman?
A “machine” works through tight control of elections and government jobs, often led by this kind of powerful local leader.
What is a political boss? (Richard J. Daley)
To address standing water and disease, Chicago raised many of its buildings in the 1850s to install this first-of-its-kind sewer innovation.
What is the citywide raised sewer system / first comprehensive sewer system in the U.S.?
Known as Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, he operated a successful trading post along this river.
Who was Jean Baptiste Du Sable?
This 1903 tragedy, still the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, occurred because exits were locked and these fire-safety features failed.
What is the Iroquois Theater Fire?
This person founded this famous settlement house that provided services to immigrants in Chicago.
Who is Jane Addams?
This discriminatory 20th-century housing practice denied loans to residents in certain neighborhoods, largely based on this factor.
What is race?
Early French and Haitian traders, including du Sable, made a living primarily through this economic activity involving animal pelts.
What are fur traders?
Du Sable was of African descent and born on this Caribbean island.
What is Haiti?
This 1915 disaster, in which over 800 people died in the Chicago River, happened when this steamship went under.
What is the Eastland?
The guys worked for Pullman and helped spread The Chicago Defender by secretly delivering it to the South, aiding this major demographic movement.
These clashes during the Democratic National Convention pitted anti-war protesters against police, who were later accused of using this kind of excessive response
What is a “police riot” / excessive force?
During WWII, the Glenview Naval Air Station trained pilots to take off from and land on these, even before they went to sea.
What are aircraft carriers?
The 1833 Treaty of Chicago forced the removal of this tribe, one of the last Indigenous groups in the area, to lands west of the Mississippi.
Who are the Potawatomi?
The high death toll at the Iroquois Theater Fire (over 600 people) was largely due to many exit doors being locked, obscured, or designed to open THIS direction, making escape impossible under crowd pressure.
What is inward?
He made his fortune in meat packing, which made Chicago the “hog butcher for the world.”
Who is Philip Armour?
Students participating in the 1963 CPS boycott protested overcrowded, underfunded schools and the district’s use of these structures for “temporary” classrooms.
What are "Willis" Wagons? (mobile classrooms or trailers)
This Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party brought together Black, Puerto Rican, and poor white groups to form the original coalition based on class solidarity. They worked to provide free breakfast and health care.
Who is Fred Hampton?