BRONZEVILLE BIKES SUNDAY RIDE
THE GREAT MIGRATION

Bronzeville played a pivotal role in The Great Migration, both as a destination for migrants and - through the efforts of the Chicago Defender - as a catalyst of migration. We are honored to have this tour narrated by historical scholar, Christopher Reed. It will highlight the most important Bronzeville landmarks of the Migration, tracing key steps of the migrants and of the message that created our first Black mayor, first Black president, and forever changed America.

All Bronzeville Bikes rides meet at the Bronzeville Community Garden at 51st & Calumet.
.
For more information:
www.bronzevillebikes.com
773.614.RIDE (7433)
-------------------------------------------------

More about Christopher Reed:
http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/christopher-r-reed-41

Christopher Robert Reed was born on January 11, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois to Robert and Josephine Reed. Reed’s maternal great grandfather served in the 116th Infantry of the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War and took part in the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in 1865.

From 1982 to 1987, Reed served as professor of Black Studies at the University of Chicago. He returned to Roosevelt University as professor of history in 1987 where he taught courses on North American Slavery, the History of Blacks in Chicago (1770 – 1960) and the History of Blacks in Chicago (1960 to the present). Reed is the author of a few books including The Chicago NAACP and the Rise of Black Professional Leadership, 1910-1966 in 1997; All the World is Here!: The Black Presence at White City, a book about African and African American participation in Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, in 2000; wrote the introduction for History of the Chicago Urban League (with Arvah E. Strickland) in 2001 and Black Chicago’s First Century, Volume 1, 1833-1900 in 2005. He retired from teaching in 2009.

Reed is often called upon as an expert on Chicago history and the history of black Chicago. He is a member of the East Garfield Park Coalition, the West of Western Housing Alliance, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boys and Girls Club and was a member of the West Side Coalition for Unity and Political Action supporting the late Harold Washington. In 2001, at Roosevelt, he was the recipient of the St. Clair Drake Award for Outstanding Scholarship. Reed, Chicago’s Black History Forum, keeps his great grandfathers’ Army discharge papers in a bank vault.