Memory and Chicago

Essay: Memory and Chicago

From its beginnings as a little town in Native American lands, Chicago grew and developed to become the third biggest city in the USA in terms of population (3.7 million) and GDP, as well as a major global city, housing over 100 Multinational headquarters. Nevertheless, this development was marked by numerous historical figures and events which contributed to dynamic growth trends in Chicago. Being one of the most important cities in the USA today, Chicago’s history has often been tightly linked with national level history. From this statement we can ask ourselves why and how memory, and the way that Chicago remember their history, is important to understanding national history, changing American society and cultural identity. This link between Chicago’s past and its influence on the wider national history can be seen through labor movements, black and white dynamics, Republican and Democrat voting tendencies, and finally Chicago’s era of industrialization.

Labor movements in Chicago throughout the 19th century have reflected at the time, the growing will for American workers across the country, to obtain rights and social protection. Indeed very poor working conditions including twelve hour work day, disastrous sanitary conditions and absence of health aid or insurance resulted in growing and massive discontent. It was in this context that number of riots and major strikes exploded through the course of the 19th century. The most famous one in Chicago occurred on the first of May 1886: as workers were pushing for an eight hour work day, police reprisal caused the death of two strikers. This event unleashed the movement’s anger and eight day fighting ensued, resulting in the deaths of eight policemen and many other workers. Once the strike controlled by the police, eight anarcho-syndicalists where arrested and four were sentenced to death. These workers have been memorialized by Chicagoans as the martyrs of Haymarket square. This...