An Autobiography of Black Chicago

Few were more qualified than Dempsey Travis to write the history of African Americans in Chicago, and none would be able to do it with the same command of firsthand sources. This seminal paperback reissue, An Autobiography of Black Chicago, emulates the best works of Studs Terkel ? portraying the African American Chicago community through the personal experiences of Dempsey Travis, his family, and his fellow Chicagoans. Through his family's and his own experiences, plus those of the book's numerous well-respected contributors, Travis tells a comprehensive, intimate story of African Americans in Chicago. Starting with John Baptiste Point du Sable, who was the first non?Native American to settle on the mouth of the Chicago River, and ending with Travis's successes providing equal housing opportunities for Chicago African Americans, An Autobiography of Black Chicago acquaints the reader with the city's most prominent African American figures ? told through their own words.

Dempsey Travis (1920?2009) was born and raised in Chicago. He was a real estate magnate, civil rights activist, jazz musician, and author. He graduated from Chicago's DuSable High School in 1939 and served in the army during World War II. He graduated from Roosevelt University in 1949 and received a degree from the School of Mortgage Banking at Northwestern University in 1969. He is the author of Views from the Back of the Bus and An Autobiography of Black Jazz, among many other books. He served as president of the Society of Midland Authors, as financial editor for Dollars and Sense magazine, and as a contributing writer to Ebony and The Black Scholar.