Washington Park

Category: Parks and Recreation

W.S. Cleveland brought Frederick Law Olmsted's design to life after the 1871 Chicago Fire. Perhaps the most important space for black working class activity in Chicago. Semiprofessional baseball teams played in the park during the 1920s. Beginning in the 1950s, the Park's Open Forum included protests of the jailing of black Communist Claude Lightfoot, the Mississippi lynching of Chicagoan Emmett Till, and fiery speeches by Paul Robeson. In 1971 the DuSable Museum of African American History moved into one of the park's administration buildings to complement these activities.