Margaret Taylor Burroughs (aka Culture and Society) Day on the South Side of Chicago

Dr. Kohar Jones

The Summer Service Partnership 2012 structured a field day around “Culture and Society,” exploring some of the cultural gems of the South Side of Chicago:

• The South Shore Cultural Center in the South Shore neighborhood.

• The DuSable Museum of African American History in Washington Park.

• With lunch at Soul Vegetarian East in Greater Grand Crossing.

The day unexpectedly, for me, turned into Margaret T. Burroughs day.  It was inspiring to see how one artist’s vision and passion created associations of people who established the institutions that maintain the history and grandeur of African Americans on the South Side of Chicago.

Indirectly, it was a great lesson on asset-based-community-development.

Dr Burroughs was an artist and community activist who created beautiful lithographic prints, founded the DuSable Museum of African American History, and advocated to prevent the city from tearing down the South Shore Cultural Center, instead restoring it to its prior glory. 

We started the morning inside the South Shore Cultural Center, which houses a gallery dedicated to the awards and artwork of Dr. Burroughs.  She was part of a group of community activists who led the fight in the 1970s to preserve the beautiful building that would one day serve as the wedding site for Barack and Michelle Obama. Then state-Senator Obama allocated funds to create a nature preserve on the grounds, ensuring a peaceful retreat for local residents.

 

SSP 2012 on the stairs of the South Shore Cultural Center. 

 

When we went to Soul Vegetarian East--a delicious vegan restaurant where Yohanna cooked and served us tasty buffalo tofu, macaroni and soy-based-cheese, with a delicious toasted almond ice cream or Strawberry Heaven smoothie dessert--Margaret T. Burroughs’ artwork was on the walls. 

And then we went to the DuSable Museum of African American art.  Guess who founded it?  Margaret T. Burroughs.  She was proud of the institution's grass-roots beginnings, saying in an interview with Black Enterprise magazine in 1980, “A lot of black museums have opened up, but we’re the only one that grew out of the indigenous Black community. We weren’t started by anybody downtown; we were started by ordinary folks.”

A community has different types of assets—physical, economic, institutional, associational, and individual, with a living history of the stories of the individuals and associations and institutions working in the physical spaces and economic realities that create the community.

Restoring beauty to the architecture of South Chicago. Founding vibrant insitutions. Creating beauty and community.  Margaret T. Burroughs was a huge asset to the South Side of Chicago, as she left a legacy of institutions that will continue to tell the stories and celebrate the lives of African Americans in Chicago.  Her own story of celebration and creation continues to inspire and educate today.