IL SR0432

Recognizes Black Wall Street-Chicago as a premier organization in Illinois and celebrates the designation of a Black Wall Street district on East 75th Street east of the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago.

Notes that 80% or more of businesses on the commercial strip are African American-owned, making it a prime example of a Black Wall Street District in Chicago since the early 1940s.

References the historic Black Wall Street District in Tulsa, Oklahoma from the early 1900s and acknowledges the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot that destroyed the Greenwood neighborhood.

Recognizes the ongoing revitalization of 75th Street as a pedestrian-friendly commercial area with diverse African American-owned businesses including restaurants, clothing stores, barber and beauty shops, and entertainment venues.

Documents that Black Wall Street-Chicago held a ribbon cutting ceremony on August 29, 2009 to officially designate the district and has held quarterly Economic Summits since March 2007 to develop plans sustaining black-owned businesses.