The Honorable Danny K. Davis
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
7th District, Illinois
June 6, 2000
The Honorable Bruce Babbit
Secretary
Department of Interior
1849 C. Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
Dear Secretary Babbit:
I write to add my voice to those who strongly feel that the Maxwell Street Historic District in Chicago should be on the National Register of Historic Places. This area is in my Congressional District.
Maxwell Street has been a port of entry; a social, cultural, economic and political center for successive generations of Chicago's new residents. Maxwell Street was the most important center for Eastern European Jewish settlement in the late 1880s and early 1900s outside New York's Lower East Side. It is impossible to appreciate and understand the history of the Jewish People in the United States without studying the history of Maxwell Street.
In the period following World War I, Maxwell Street became a terminal for the "Great Migration." It became the bridge from the rural South and the aftermath of slavery to the industrial North and a new chapter of struggle and creativity for the African American people, as well as the opening in a new and shameful era of racism and oppression. Maxwell Street is world famous as home to the Chicago "blues." The "blues" are more than just music, they are a central part and expression of the development of African American identity and existence. They were part of a cultural renaissance in Black Life.
More recently, Maxwell Street became an exciting and vibrant center for Latino culture and entrepreneurship. Latinos have, like generations before them, used Maxwell Street as a launching pad to develop a cultural and economic base. Chicago as a whole, all of Chicago's people, have been enriched economically, culturally and politically by the Maxwell Street experience. Anyone who ever visited the neighborhood could feel the history and come away with a deep sense of its tradition. Each generation absorbed the legacies of those who came before them, and have added to and deepened that legacy.
Maxwell Street is a treasure which we must preserve, and cherish and pass down to generations to come. It must be a living, breathing center for all who come to share it. This is not a burden. It is an opportunity and a responsibility. Change is an inevitable part of the historic process, destruction is not. A Maxwell Street Historic District will be a wellspring of cultural expression, a rich tourist attraction and a source of educational and research opportunity.
The non-profit coalition preparing the application to the National Register is facing and has faced bias and a conflict of interest in an openly hostile Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the State Historic Preservation Officer. The evidence for inclusion from academics, scholars and professionals all over the world is very strong. I urge you to visit their website <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html>.
Therefore, I request the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Park Service to make an independent judgment and include the area in the National Register for Historic Places.
Sincerely,
Danny K. Davis
Member of Congress
cc: Carol Shull, Keeper of the National Register
Return to the Maxwell St. News Update page.
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Go to the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition home page.
Contact Us
TO REACH US VIA EMAIL:
Chuck Cowdery, President (cowdery@21stcentury.net)TO REACH US VIA THE USPS:
Steve Balkin, Vice President (mar@openair.org)
Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition
P.O. Box 6435
Evanston, IL 60204