Music & Entertainment
This former artist gave up his Royalty for a life of peace near the waters of Lake Minnetonka
Prince
an activist in the civil rights movement, she was best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott
Rosa Parks
the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era, he broke the color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947
Jackie Robinson
Will Smith, Carlton Banks, Geoffrey Butler, Aunt Vivian
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
this Hawaiian born American politician served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and once called Hyde Park his home
Barack Obama
This Seattle native guitarist jammed out classics like Purple Haze and All Along the Watchtower
Jimi Hendrix
arguably the most successful individual who personally led enslaved people to freedom through her service on the Underground Railroad, and during the Civil War, she was given the moniker "Moses."
Harriet Tubman
He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy"
Jesse Owens
Carl Winslow, Laura Winslow , and Steve Urkel
Family Matters
an American comedian and actor. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, he would go on to star in movies such as Ocean's 11, Mr. 3000, and Charlie's Angels
Bernie Mac
This Thriller created one of the best-selling albums of all time, with sales of 70 million copies worldwide
Michael Jackson
an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He became the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century
Frederick Douglass
Nicknamed "Sweetness", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time and would go on to help the 1985 Chicago Bears win a Super Bowl
Walter Payton
This film was anything but Blue with a shinning cast that included cameos from musicians such as James Brown, Ray Charles, Chaka Kha, and Aretha Franklin
the Blues Brothers
This cultural icon dreamed he could fly and made it happen between 1984 and 2003, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls
Michael Jordan
This Notorious artist from Brooklyn, NY topped the charts with classics such as Mo Money Mo Problems and Big Poppa
Notorious BIG
This famous Dreamer won the Noble Peace Prize in 1964 for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance as one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights moment from 1955 to 1968
Martin Luther King Jr.
Inventor of his own martial arts style, this former player turned sports analyst became a four-time NBA Champion at the Center position
Shaquille O'Neal
John Singleton's critically acclaimed film stared Cuban Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube as long time friends in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles
Boyz n the Hood
an investigative journalist, Ida B. Wells wrote lengthy exposés on the practice of lynching in 19th century America. She worked closely with Frederick Douglass to stage a boycott of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition for its lack of black inclusion within exhibits and became one of the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In July of 2018, Chicago’s Congress Parkway was renamed after her
Ida B. Wells
Hello Dolly!, this brass player followed his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver to Chicago to play in a Creole Jazz Band before finding success of his own in New York City
Louis Armstrong
he argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. Later, President Lyndon B. Johnson would appoint him to the Supreme Court in 1967 as the first African-American Supreme Court justice.
Thurgood Marshall
acclaimed as the fastest woman in the world in the 1960, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
Wilma Rudolph
1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction with appearances by Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Laurence Fishburne
The Color Purple
He was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues". His hits include Rollin' Stone, Hoochie Coochie Man, and Got My Mojo Working which were all amoung the top 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
McKinley " Muddy Waters " Morganfield