permanent stands, then store fronts behind the stands, with rooms above where the shopkeepers lived with their families.

The market on Maxwell Street was just like the ones back home in Europe. Merchandise of every sort, in no particular order, was available in the open air for whatever price the shopper could negotiate. The spirit was summarized on a famous 3-word sign as old as the market itself: "Cheat You Fair."

For about 40 years, roughly from 1880 to 1920, the Maxwell Street neighborhood was almost exclusively Jewish. It was the first Chicago neighborhood dubbed "the ghetto." Then it began to change again.

After World War I, African-Americans from the south began to migrate north in ever growing numbers. The Great Migration was one of the largest peace time relocations in world history. Like every migrant group before them, their first stop was Maxwell Street. As Jewish families left the area for better parts of town, they were replaced by African- or Mexican-Americans. The shops stayed Jewish, but every year, more and more of the customers and upstairs tenants were African- or Mexican-Americans, who matter-of-factly dubbed the area Jewtown.

In a city and country where racial strife was a constant problem, Maxwell Street was a bit of an oasis. On Maxwell Street, the only color that mattered was green. Maxwell Street had always been about newcomers looking for a start and poor people looking for a bargain. That never changed.

But the new arrivals did remake Maxwell Street in their own image. Just as the outdoor market tradition was rooted in Europe, African-Americans brought a tradition of outdoor entertainment. Specifically,