Donda West

Dr. Donda West was a professor at Chicago State University for 24 years and the former Chair of the English Department. She was the founder of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing. Donda West was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship. The Dr. Donda West Foundation supports underserved youth and encourages teenagers and young adults to stay in school.

She is author of Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Star (2009). Donda is the mother of Kanye West.

Alum
Virginia Union University
Clark Atlanta University
Auburn University

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Honorary Dr. Donda West Way

78th Street from South Shore Drive to Coles Avenue

 

Approved: June 2024

Ward: 07
Alderman: Gregory Mitchell
Neighborhood: South Shore

b. July 12, 1949
d. November 10, 2007. Age 58.

Near
Her Home

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Source

20249679

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donda_West

WBEZ: Keynote Address by Donda West. https://www.wbez.org/2007/10/19/keynote-address-dr-donda-west-on-raising-kanye

Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein was most famous for his children’s books; he was also a cartoonist, a poet, a playwright, and a song writer.

His books include: The Giving Tree (1964), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974), A Light in the Attic (1981), Falling Up (1996), Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book, among others.

He also wrote songs performed by: Johnny Cash “A Boy Named Sue,” Emmylou Harris “Queen of the Silver Dollar,” and The Irish Rovers “Unicorn Song.” He collaborated on the David Mamet screenplay Things Change (1988).

Shel Silverstein won two Grammy Awards, and was nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards. He was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame (2014), and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2002).

WHEN I AM GONE
When I am gone what will you do?
Who will write and draw for you?
Someone smarter—someone new?
Someone better—maybe YOU!

- Shel Silverstein

Veteran: Army. Served in Japan and Korea

Alum:
Theodore Roosevelt High School, Albany Park - Chicago
University of Illinois
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts

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Honorary Shel Silverstein WAY

Northwest Corner of North Kimball Avenue and West Wilson Avenue - to the Southwest Corner of North Kimball Avenue and West Leland Avenue *

 

Approved: March 2024

Ward: 33
Alderman: Rodriguez-Sanchez
Neighborhood: Albany Park

b. September 25, 1930 in Chicago
d. May 10, 1999. Age 67. Key West, Florida

Near:
Theodore Roosevelt High School
3436 W. Wilson Avenue

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Source

20247233

https://www.shelsilverstein.com/about-shel/

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/shel-silverstein

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/11/books/shel-silverstein-zany-writer-and-cartoonist-dies-at-67.html

* Amended July 2024 - changed location of sign

Lerone Bennett, Jr.

Lerone Bennett, Jr. was an author and social historian with a specialty in race relations and civil rights. He served for many years as the Executive Editor of Ebony Magazine; he began his career with Johnson Publishing as the City Editor of JET Magazine. His career in journalism began at the age of twelve at the black-owned newspaper The Mississippi Enterprise. After college he worked for the Atlanta Daily World.

His first book was Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America 1619-1962. In 1978 he received the American Academy Arts and Letters, Literature Award. In 1954 he published an article about the children of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings; which was verified decades later using DNA evidence.

He was a visiting professor at Northwestern University. Lerone graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1949, where he was classmates with Martin Luther King, Jr. Bennett interviewed King about the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, and in 1964 wrote What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King.

Veteran: Army. Korean War

Alumnus:
Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Lanier High School

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Honorary Lerone Bennett, Jr. Parkway

South Chicago Beach Drive from East 48th Street to East 49th Street

 

Approved: February 2022

Ward: 4
Alderman: King
Neighborhood: Kenwood

b. October 17, 1928. Mississippi
d. February 14, 2018. age 89. Chicago

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Source

https://aaregistry.org/story/lerone-bennett-jr-a-classical-author/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lerone_Bennett_Jr.

2022385

Timuel Black

Timuel Black was a black historian, professor, Civil Rights activist who lived on the South Side of Chicago and lived to be 102 years old.

His family moved to Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama when he was a year old; they were fleeing racial segregation and seeking better education for their children.

Timuel Black helped organize more than 2,500 Chicagoans to attend the Martin Luther King March on Washington. He also worked on the campaign that elected Chicago’s first black Mayor, Harold Washington.

As a soldier in WWII, he was moved by the atrocities he saw in Europe as a result of the Nazi regime; he dedicated his life to civil rights.

He was on the faculty at City Colleges of Chicago

Timuel Black is the author of several books, including: Bridges of Memory (two volumes) and Sacred Ground

Education:

University of Chicago

Roosevelt University

DuSable High School

Wendell Phillips High School

Englewood High School

Burke Elementary

Veteran: WWII, Army. Europe - Invasion of Normandy and Battle of the Bulge

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Photo Credit: CC0 Timuel Black

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Honorary Timuel Black Way

4800 to 5000 South State Street

 

Approved: November 2012

Ward: 3
Alderman: Dowell
Neighborhood: Bronzeville

b. December 7, 1918. Birmingham, Alabama
d. October 13, 2021. Age 102. Chicago

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Source

TheHistoryMakers.org: Biography - Timuel Black

Aleko Konstantinov Way

Alekos Kostantinov was a Bulgarian writer who came to Chicago during the 1893 Columbian Exhibition World Fair.  His 1894 book "To Chicago and Back" was influential in attracting Bulgarian immigrants to Chicago and the resulting sizable Bulgarian community in Chicago.

 

His sign is located outside the First Bulgarian Center; where the Union of Bulgarian Writers hold it's meetings and is the common meeting place for Bulgarian writers living all over the world.  Bulgarian Culture Center Chicago

The honorary sign was dedicated to mark the 120th anniversary of his death.

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Approved: 2017
Ward: 45
Alderman: John Arena
Neighborhood: Avondale / Old Irving Park

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