BLOG |
Negro Digest offices, State Street
Ebony magazine, 1992
Ebony magazine, 1992
BLOG |
On September 16, 2021, Chicago Crusader reporter Erick Johnson ran a story on the former Johnson Publishing headquarters at 820 South Michigan Avenue, noting that, nearly four years after the site had been designated a Chicago Landmark, it still hadn't been blessed with a historical plaque. "More than 1,367 days have passed since it was designated a landmark, but city officials claim delays and the pandemic have caused the installation of a special historical plaque to drag on. Near the 50th anniversary of the building’s historic opening, it remains a site without a marker bearing its significance to millions of Blacks in Chicago and across the country." Johnson's complaints appear to have galvanized someone in the city's planning department - just a few days after his initial article was published in the Crusader, a city official finally installed a historic marker on the building's exterior. In a statement released alongside the marker's installation, Department of Planning and Development employee Kevin Barnes reasserted that the building's landmarking had "helped to protect and honor the legacy of John Johnson, Ebony and Jet magazines, and John Warren Moutoussamy, and their unique contributions to Black history and culture here in Chicago and across the nation.” You can access Johnson's stories for the Crusader - here and here. Historical marker installed at JPC building, 2021. Erick Johnson/Chicago Crusader
Comments are closed.
|