(slow piano music)
- The South Side is where I first landed
when I moved to Chicago.
We had this community that had so much history,
a history of the black migration from the south,
of, you know, people experiencing discrimination
but not being defined by it, and overcoming it,
and the changes that took place in much of the South Side
in many ways ended up triggering black political empowerment
and probably had laid the groundwork
for my race for the presidency.
(inspirational piano music)
- The World's Columbia Exhibition of 1893
took place at Jackson Park and it was a celebration
of the 400 years of progress Americans,
and really the Western World, had accomplished.
- African Americans formally were not included
in the World's Fair,
and this was a point of some controversy.
The only exhibit that related to African descended people
was what was called the Haitian Pavilion
and that was an invitation to the country of Haiti.
- Frederick Douglas was one of the preeminent
African Americans in the United States at the time,
a man who was born into slavery who escaped slavery
and rose to be one of the leading abolitionists
in the United States.
He had been the U.S. Representative to Haiti,
and it was actually the Haitian government
who invited Frederick Douglas to Chicago.
- Frederick Douglas was a very strong advocate
of the idea that even if there wasn't an exhibit
in relation to African Americans,
there needed to be some commemoration,
and I think his lobbying resulted in the organizers
agreeing to set aside a day to celebrate
the advances of African Americans
and their contributions to national civilization.
They call it Colored American Day, took place on August 25th, 1893.
- When Frederick Douglass spoke,
he was critiquing the persistent racial discrimination
that African Americans were facing,
not quite 30 years after the end of slavery.
- Negro problem, there is in fact no such problem.
The true problem is whether the American people
have honesty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough,
to live up to their own constitution.
- So this is where Frederick Douglas
marker is in Jackson Park.
This is where the Haitian Pavilion was,
this is where Douglas held court.
The marker represents the importance of having
a place that our families of the South Side
could come and feel that they've made
a bigger contribution to the world and say we belong.
- The significance of Jackson Park
as a site that brings the contributions of Frederick Douglas
in 1893 together with the contributions of Barrack Obama
and having his presidential center located there,
it closes the circle around understanding
what it means to appreciate the length of the struggle
to enfranchise African Americans,
to have their voices counted,
to recognize their capacities and powers of leadership.
I think what Douglass did was what so many
people have done through their life,
they come to this city, they see conditions
that they don't like, and they find a way
to try to make it different,
and that, I think, is a legacy that speaks tremendously
about why the African American community
in this city is so powerful.
- Progress in this nation happens only because
seemingly ordinary people find the courage
to stand up for what is right,
not just when it's easy, but when it's hard.
Not just when it's convenient, but when it's challenging.
We don't set aside this month each year
to isolate or segregate,
or put under a glass case, black history,
we set it aside to illuminate those threads,
those living threads that African Americans
have woven into the tight tapestry of this nation,
to make it stronger, and more beautiful,
and more just, and more free.
(inspirational piano music)