A look at the Chicago crucible that helped form Barack Obama
Obama’s Chicago
Obama’s Chicago
Hanah Jon Taylor (above), jazz musician extraordinaire, was born and raised on Chicago’s south side to
elderly parents. His grandfather was a cooper by trade who created the ice cream vats for the first African
American ice cream company in Chicago, the Baldwin Ice Cream Company. His grandfather was paid well
and the family — his grandfather, grandmother and 12 children — moved to a large house at S. 44th Street
and Wabash Ave. complete with two coach houses.
Sometime later, his grandfather died — his grandmother had already passed — and his mom inherited a
portion of the estate. Taylor was about to learn a tough lesson about Chicago politics. “It was a beautiful
home,” Taylor recalled in an interview with The Capital City Hues. “As a young boy, I lived in this beautiful
estate. Wabash was a very good address back in those days. That was a time when people mowed their lawns
and washed their cars on Saturday and went to church on Sunday. And as Black folks, we had to put on our
Sunday best to go downtown because we were representing not only our family, but also our race. It was very
important. You didn’t go downtown unless you were well-dressed and well-behaved. Chicago politics is a very
phenomenal thing because one of the hard lessons that I had to learn as a young boy was that no matter how
cohesive one’s family is — even during the transition of an estate — Chicago politics can permeate that. Urban
renewal forced my family to sell the mansion for a fraction of what it was worth, tore it down and built a parking
lot for a social service agency.”
The Chicago machine reached deeply into people’s lives. Taylor recalled the time when a precinct
captain came up to his father with a crumpled $5 bill in his hand, shook his father’s hand and reminded him to
vote. Back then, many people were on the take. “I remember when I first got my driver’s license at the age of
elderly parents. His grandfather was a cooper by trade who created the ice cream vats for the first African
American ice cream company in Chicago, the Baldwin Ice Cream Company. His grandfather was paid well
and the family — his grandfather, grandmother and 12 children — moved to a large house at S. 44th Street
and Wabash Ave. complete with two coach houses.
Sometime later, his grandfather died — his grandmother had already passed — and his mom inherited a
portion of the estate. Taylor was about to learn a tough lesson about Chicago politics. “It was a beautiful
home,” Taylor recalled in an interview with The Capital City Hues. “As a young boy, I lived in this beautiful
estate. Wabash was a very good address back in those days. That was a time when people mowed their lawns
and washed their cars on Saturday and went to church on Sunday. And as Black folks, we had to put on our
Sunday best to go downtown because we were representing not only our family, but also our race. It was very
important. You didn’t go downtown unless you were well-dressed and well-behaved. Chicago politics is a very
phenomenal thing because one of the hard lessons that I had to learn as a young boy was that no matter how
cohesive one’s family is — even during the transition of an estate — Chicago politics can permeate that. Urban
renewal forced my family to sell the mansion for a fraction of what it was worth, tore it down and built a parking
lot for a social service agency.”
The Chicago machine reached deeply into people’s lives. Taylor recalled the time when a precinct
captain came up to his father with a crumpled $5 bill in his hand, shook his father’s hand and reminded him to
vote. Back then, many people were on the take. “I remember when I first got my driver’s license at the age of
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 2 of 3
While much has been said about the influence President Barack Obama’s childhood spent
in Hawaii and Indonesia, the love and attention that he received from his mother and
grandparents, the absence of his Kenyan father and his Columbia University and Harvard Law
School education. While these are certainly important factors in his life, it was Chicago — and
particularly the south side of Chicago — that molded Obama’s professional and political careers.
In this three part series, The Capital City Hues is going to take a look at some of the history and
features of Chicago’s south side — an eclectic place from Hyde Park and the University of
Chicago to gang-dominated neighborhoods and everything in between. LaMarr Billups, now an
assistant vice-president at Georgetown University and Hanah Jon Taylor, jazz musician and
instructor at Madison Media Institute, were born and grew up on Chicago’s south side and have
witnessed and experienced many of the same qualities that have molded Barack Obama.
Through their eyes, we shall explore Obama’s Chicago.
****
Part 2 of 3
While much has been said about the influence President Barack Obama’s childhood spent
in Hawaii and Indonesia, the love and attention that he received from his mother and
grandparents, the absence of his Kenyan father and his Columbia University and Harvard Law
School education. While these are certainly important factors in his life, it was Chicago — and
particularly the south side of Chicago — that molded Obama’s professional and political careers.
In this three part series, The Capital City Hues is going to take a look at some of the history and
features of Chicago’s south side — an eclectic place from Hyde Park and the University of
Chicago to gang-dominated neighborhoods and everything in between. LaMarr Billups, now an
assistant vice-president at Georgetown University and Hanah Jon Taylor, jazz musician and
instructor at Madison Media Institute, were born and grew up on Chicago’s south side and have
witnessed and experienced many of the same qualities that have molded Barack Obama.
Through their eyes, we shall explore Obama’s Chicago.
****
| LaMarr Billups with a cutout of President Barack Obama |
16,” Taylor said. “My father hugged me and kissed me on my cheek and gave me a ten dollar bill. He told me to put it in the visor of the car so that when I got
stopped, I wouldn’t get a ticket.” And the first time Taylor got stopped driving the car, that ten dollar bill worked wonders with the policeman he handed it to.
People could also get by according to their perceived status in the city. Taylor went to De La Salle High School on the south side, the same high school that
Mayor Richard Daily had attended years before. “Just to show you how patronage works in an extended form, the Christian Brothers told us that if we ever had an
altercation with the police, we should let them know immediately that we were students from De La Salle,” Taylor said. “They guaranteed us that would be
enough to get us off the hook for whatever we were doing. I wasn’t a bad kid, so I only had to use that ‘get out of jail free’ card once or twice. Once it was when I
was walking down the street minding my own business and the police were looking for someone who met my description. They threw me up against the wall,
stuck an automatic weapon to my head and between my legs and asked me where the hell I was going. I told them I was going home. As they were frisking me, I
mentioned that I went to De La Salle. And they got in their cars and drove away. So it worked. ‘You’re a De La Salle boy? Why didn’t you mention it in the first
place?’”
While Billups recognizes that there was a lot of corruption in Chicago, not every Chicago politician was involved in it. “Chicago politics is tough,” Billups
emphasized. “I’m sure that Barack learned as a community organizer that in order to get anything done, in order to have any stepping stone not just for himself,
but also to advance the cause of the organizations he was working for and the people these organizations were serving, he was going to have to hook into the
political apparatus of Chicago and Illinois. You don’t get access to public funding unless you have developed the relationship with the government. That is the
culture of doing business in the Chicago area. It has had its features of corruption as everyone knows. Something like the last six governors have been convicted
or accused of one thing or another. There was always this smell of cronyism and political bossism around the Daley machine and those other machines in
government. But many a stellar politician has come out of Chicago such as Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of Chicago. It has had its good and its bad,
but always it has been a place as they said ‘the city that works and gets things done.’ And Barack figured all of that out.”
Perhaps due to segregation and coupled with the progressive environment surrounding the University of Chicago — Hyde Park decided to integrate in the
1950s — eclectic mixes of people lived near each other. There was Elijah Muhammad and John Johnson, the publisher of Ebony and Jet, living near middle
class and not so middle class households as well. Taylor recalled the time when he met Mohammed Ali, the world champion boxer. Taylor had just landed a job
with a social service agency that had some group homes around the city and wanted to establish one in Hyde Park. Since he had grown up in the Hyde Park
area, Taylor offered to take a petition around the neighborhood in support of the home. The first person he went to was Muhammad Ali.
“Muhammad Ali lived on 48th and Woodlawn,” Taylor said. “The guard was at the gate. He asked me what I wanted and I told him. ‘I want Muhammad Ali
to be the first person to sign my petition.’ He asked to look at it and took the petition into the house. He came back with the petition and I saw it wasn’t signed. I
looked at it and looked up at him. He said ‘The Champ says he will see you now.’ So I walked right up inside his house. There was his entourage and he was
sitting there while everyone was just laughing and talking and drinking coffee and relaxing.’ Apparently the guy told the Champ what I was there for because
when I came through the door, everybody was smiling at me. He said ‘Come on in.’ He asked me to tell him what the situation was about. I told him and he
signed the petition. He listened to me for five minutes and he said ‘Well, good luck.’ He gave the petition to me, shook my hand, turned to the guard and said ‘He’
s ready to go now.’ I found my way out. It wasn’t a strange thing to see him on his lawn goofing around with his kids or shadow boxing with some of his partners.
He was a regular guy. I’m trying to show you how there was a sense of real professionalism and affluence in a community of people who were very, very regular
folks.”
Taylor also recalled Harold Washington who became Chicago’s first African American mayor. Washington was also from Hyde Park and again, the eclectic
mix of the neighborhood allowed ordinary people to brush up against the famous. “In Hyde Park, there is a place called Valois,” Taylor said. “This is a place
where people came from all over the community and all over the city come because of its environment. They come for breakfast and lunch. And the tables seat
four. You walk down the line and pay for what you want at the end of the line. You could be sitting next to a bum, the mayor or a good musician right there at
your table. That’s how I met Harold Washington. That’s where I met Studs Terkel. This is where Barack would frequent all the time. So it was that kind of
community. We didn’t have to go downtown to talk with the mayor. All we had to do was get up at 7 a.m. and meet him for breakfast because he was going to be
at Valois every morning.”
Taylor noted that rumors still abound that Harold Washington was assassinated because the elders on the south side felt he was too real, too close to
people. Taylor remembered a quip that Washington made about an opponent’s television commercial when he was running for re-election. “I remember when
he was running against Hanrahan, who was a very right wing politician,” Taylor said. “He was connected to the Chicago Police Department and the Daley
machine. Hanrahan had a commercial out during his campaign with a Black hand pushing the Hanrahan lever in the election booth saying ‘I never thought I
would be doing this.’ They asked Harold about it and Harold said ‘It was a White hand in a black glove.’ He said it with a straight face. You could hear people
laughing across the street. Everybody cracked up. That was the kind of man he was. He was cool. I could talk to him just like we’re talking now.”
Next issue: Not everything is sunny on Chicago’s south side
stopped, I wouldn’t get a ticket.” And the first time Taylor got stopped driving the car, that ten dollar bill worked wonders with the policeman he handed it to.
People could also get by according to their perceived status in the city. Taylor went to De La Salle High School on the south side, the same high school that
Mayor Richard Daily had attended years before. “Just to show you how patronage works in an extended form, the Christian Brothers told us that if we ever had an
altercation with the police, we should let them know immediately that we were students from De La Salle,” Taylor said. “They guaranteed us that would be
enough to get us off the hook for whatever we were doing. I wasn’t a bad kid, so I only had to use that ‘get out of jail free’ card once or twice. Once it was when I
was walking down the street minding my own business and the police were looking for someone who met my description. They threw me up against the wall,
stuck an automatic weapon to my head and between my legs and asked me where the hell I was going. I told them I was going home. As they were frisking me, I
mentioned that I went to De La Salle. And they got in their cars and drove away. So it worked. ‘You’re a De La Salle boy? Why didn’t you mention it in the first
place?’”
While Billups recognizes that there was a lot of corruption in Chicago, not every Chicago politician was involved in it. “Chicago politics is tough,” Billups
emphasized. “I’m sure that Barack learned as a community organizer that in order to get anything done, in order to have any stepping stone not just for himself,
but also to advance the cause of the organizations he was working for and the people these organizations were serving, he was going to have to hook into the
political apparatus of Chicago and Illinois. You don’t get access to public funding unless you have developed the relationship with the government. That is the
culture of doing business in the Chicago area. It has had its features of corruption as everyone knows. Something like the last six governors have been convicted
or accused of one thing or another. There was always this smell of cronyism and political bossism around the Daley machine and those other machines in
government. But many a stellar politician has come out of Chicago such as Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of Chicago. It has had its good and its bad,
but always it has been a place as they said ‘the city that works and gets things done.’ And Barack figured all of that out.”
Perhaps due to segregation and coupled with the progressive environment surrounding the University of Chicago — Hyde Park decided to integrate in the
1950s — eclectic mixes of people lived near each other. There was Elijah Muhammad and John Johnson, the publisher of Ebony and Jet, living near middle
class and not so middle class households as well. Taylor recalled the time when he met Mohammed Ali, the world champion boxer. Taylor had just landed a job
with a social service agency that had some group homes around the city and wanted to establish one in Hyde Park. Since he had grown up in the Hyde Park
area, Taylor offered to take a petition around the neighborhood in support of the home. The first person he went to was Muhammad Ali.
“Muhammad Ali lived on 48th and Woodlawn,” Taylor said. “The guard was at the gate. He asked me what I wanted and I told him. ‘I want Muhammad Ali
to be the first person to sign my petition.’ He asked to look at it and took the petition into the house. He came back with the petition and I saw it wasn’t signed. I
looked at it and looked up at him. He said ‘The Champ says he will see you now.’ So I walked right up inside his house. There was his entourage and he was
sitting there while everyone was just laughing and talking and drinking coffee and relaxing.’ Apparently the guy told the Champ what I was there for because
when I came through the door, everybody was smiling at me. He said ‘Come on in.’ He asked me to tell him what the situation was about. I told him and he
signed the petition. He listened to me for five minutes and he said ‘Well, good luck.’ He gave the petition to me, shook my hand, turned to the guard and said ‘He’
s ready to go now.’ I found my way out. It wasn’t a strange thing to see him on his lawn goofing around with his kids or shadow boxing with some of his partners.
He was a regular guy. I’m trying to show you how there was a sense of real professionalism and affluence in a community of people who were very, very regular
folks.”
Taylor also recalled Harold Washington who became Chicago’s first African American mayor. Washington was also from Hyde Park and again, the eclectic
mix of the neighborhood allowed ordinary people to brush up against the famous. “In Hyde Park, there is a place called Valois,” Taylor said. “This is a place
where people came from all over the community and all over the city come because of its environment. They come for breakfast and lunch. And the tables seat
four. You walk down the line and pay for what you want at the end of the line. You could be sitting next to a bum, the mayor or a good musician right there at
your table. That’s how I met Harold Washington. That’s where I met Studs Terkel. This is where Barack would frequent all the time. So it was that kind of
community. We didn’t have to go downtown to talk with the mayor. All we had to do was get up at 7 a.m. and meet him for breakfast because he was going to be
at Valois every morning.”
Taylor noted that rumors still abound that Harold Washington was assassinated because the elders on the south side felt he was too real, too close to
people. Taylor remembered a quip that Washington made about an opponent’s television commercial when he was running for re-election. “I remember when
he was running against Hanrahan, who was a very right wing politician,” Taylor said. “He was connected to the Chicago Police Department and the Daley
machine. Hanrahan had a commercial out during his campaign with a Black hand pushing the Hanrahan lever in the election booth saying ‘I never thought I
would be doing this.’ They asked Harold about it and Harold said ‘It was a White hand in a black glove.’ He said it with a straight face. You could hear people
laughing across the street. Everybody cracked up. That was the kind of man he was. He was cool. I could talk to him just like we’re talking now.”
Next issue: Not everything is sunny on Chicago’s south side