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Finding Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable: Chicago’s Black Father

Join Courtney Pierre Joseph for a talk about the life and times of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable.

In 2021, the infamous Lake Shore Drive in Chicago was renamed Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Short Drive. This shift was the culmination of over 100 years of advocacy to properly honor Chicago’s first non-native settler, a Black man from Ayiti (Haiti) that developed the city with his Indigenous wife. Why did it take over a century to recognize DuSable? This talk will engage with these questions along with the life and times of DuSable, Chicago’s Black father.

Courtney Pierre Joseph is an Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Lake Forest College. Her specializations are in African American history and culture, Haiti and its diaspora, women and gender studies, and Hip Hop culture. As a public historian, she has been invited to speak by the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Field Museum, NPR, NBC 5 Chicago, and CBS Chicago. Dr. Joseph is diligently working on her first book, titled Invisibly Visible: A Community History of Haitians in Chicago. When not teaching or writing, Dr. Joseph spends time with her husband and beagle and catches up on the latest reality TV shows.  

Images: Courtney Pierre Joseph and 8-foot bronze “Explorer” DuSable bust by artist Erik Blome, currently on display outside of Evanston Public Library. 

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