Victory Monument

Category: Community

With the outbreak of World War I, the prominent African American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois advocated that blacks "close ranks" to show their allegiance to their nation. Although their loyalty did not bring an end to racial discrimination, Chicago's African-American Eighth Regiment of the Illinois National Guard served with distinction in France. Site of a significant anti-lynching rally attended by more than 5,000 protestors on August 2, 1946.