Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (* before 1750 ; † August 28, 1818 ) was a North American trader. He is considered the founder of Chicago .
Life
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable came from Québec and was the son of a merchant and a black slave. In the 1770s he set up a trading post on the Mississippi at an exchange site for the local Indian tribes Miami , Fox , Sac and Potawatomi at what is now Chicago. "The first white man to settle here was a black man," they are quoted as saying.
He left Chicago around 1800 and sold his property to John Kinzie , who, unlike him, was later honored as the founding father of Chicago. Point du Sable went to St. Charles , now in Missouri , where he operated a ferry. He died there in 1818.
Trivia
- Jean Baptiste Point du Sable found its way into Stevie Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life . In the song Black Man , "Jean Baptiste" is explicitly named as the founder of the city of Chicago.
- In Chicago, the DuSable Bridge and a marina are named after du Sable. A street in Peoria bears his name.
literature
- Timothy E. Baumann: The Du Sable Grave Project in St. Charles, Missouri. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. In: The Missouri Archaeologist . 66, December 2005, pp. 59-76.
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Who was the founder of the city of Chicago in 1772?" - "Jean Baptiste - a Black Man!"
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Point du Sable, Jean Baptiste |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | North American dealer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 1750 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 28, 1818 |