By Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
THE BLUES TRAIL
O
www.fitzgeraldsnightclub.com
T H U R S D AY D E C 5
Ron & Naomi's 4th Annual
Christmas Spectacular
n the southern edge of Grant
Park, overlooking empty train
yards and trampled grass filled
with dog walkers and soccer players, a
piece of Chicago blues history stands,
largely unnoticed. It's hard to believe
how few blues fans know where the
Chicago marker on the Mississippi blues
trail stand, so I took off to find it myself.
It's easy to overlook. Located directly
across from the attention-grabbing
"Agora" sculptures of headless iron tor-
F R I & S AT D E C 6 & 7
Chicago as one of only a handful of markers out of state and one of only two located in the North.
Yet, few have come to visit the site
since the marker's unveiling five years
ago.
Bluesmen Eddy "The Chief"
Clearwater and Eddie C. Campbell
shared their experiences arriving in
Chicago for the first time on the Illinois
Central (IC) railroad from Mississippi
during the 2009 dedication. Their speeches brought real life experiences, emotions
Blues Trail marker: Grant Park
Fri: Electric Show; Sat: Acoustic Show
Reckless Kelly
with Humming
House
T U E S D AY, D E C 1 0
Voice Box with Cathy Richardson
W E D N E S D AY, D E C 1 1
FitzGerald's 33rd Anniversary shows
John De e Graham
Jon Langford
T H U R S D AY, D E C 1 2
FitzGerald's 33rd Anniversary shows
Bill Kirchen and The World
Famous Pontani Sisters'
Burlesque-a-pades
F R I D AY, D E C 1 3
FitzGerald's 33rd Anniversary shows
Tab Benoit plus Sol Driven Train
S AT U R D AY, D E C 1 4
FitzGerald's 33rd Anniversary shows
Brave Combo Annual Holiday Extravaganza!
F R I D AY, D E C 2 0
Beatle Brothers
S AT U R D AY, D E C 2 1
The Redmonds
and The Rev. Bob Band plus Romeo Brothers
S AT U R D AY, D E C 2 8
Robbie Fulks Raps Up 2013
T U E S D AY, D E C 3 1
New Year's Eve with
B ecca Kauffman
Orchestra
Coming Jan 3 & 4 : Marcia Ball Band
18 illinoisentertainer.com december 2013
sos, the unassuming sign that announces
the site as a Mississippi Blues Trail
marker looks like a simple park placard
or street notice. But it's oh so much more.
The marker rests across the street from
where the Illinois Central Railroad would
stop, dropping off hundreds of African
Americans who left the South for the
North during the "Great Migration,"spanning 1915-1970. And what has that got to
do with the Chicago blues? Everything.
This was the spot where thousands of
Mississippians arrived, including Muddy
Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Howlin' Wolf,
Willie Dixon and Elmore James, bringing
with them the Delta blues that they
would transform into the Chicago blues.
It's the spot where their dreams of the storied North were first brought to reality by
touching down in the Chicago IC train
station.
There are two large stones from the
Illinois Central station that remain near
the Mississippi Blues Trail marker.
Crumbling, but with the elaborate script
that testifies to its one time importance,
the stones echo the strong resolve those
new migrants would need to demonstrate
in order to survive in the big city. Lean
against one of the stones and listen to the
rushing traffic and hustling people.
Imagine the loneliness, fea r and isolation
that those early migrants must have felt
and you have the beginnings of what
helped create the Chicago blues.
The blues has traveled a long way
from the Mississippi Delta, literally and
figuratively. The world honors the genre
as the ultimate American folk music that
launched nearly all popular American
genres but we are still working on
bestowing it with the proper respect and
acknowledgement at home. The Chicago
blues is such an integral part of the genre
that the Mississippi Blues Trail includes
and longings that they would eventually
develop into their legendary careers performing Chicago blues.
The Mississippi Blues Marker celebrates the musicians, record label owners,
DJs and club owners who helped create
the Chicago blues. I hope that we continue to celebrate it and always remember
the essential history of the blues. Please
visit the Mississippi Blues Trail Chicago
marker if you haven't already. You can
grab maps and apps for the whole trail at
the blues trail website: http://bluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/chicago.
Here's the inspiring text for the Chicago
blues marker:
"The "Great Migration" from the South
to "the Promised Land" of Chicago
brought more African Americans here
from Mississippi than any other state,
especially during and after World War II.
With the migrants came the Delta blues
that was the foundation of the classic
postwar Chicago blues style. Muddy
Waters, who became the king of Chicago
blues, was among the thousands of
Mississippians who arrived on Illinois
Central trains at Central Station, which
stood across the street from this site from
1893 to 1974.
Robert Johnson never moved to the
place he praised in his song "Sweet Home
Chicago," but his sentiments were shared
by thousands of fellow Mississippi
natives who came here in search of a better life. In "Chicago Bound," bluesman
Jimmy Rogers called the city "the greatest
place around," and in "Chicago Blues,"
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup deemed it "the
greatest place on earth." Many migrants
traveled north on the Illinois Central via
its extensive lines that spread across the
Deep South, including eight hundred
miles of IC-owned Yazoo and Mississippi
Valley Railroad track that crisscrossed the
Continued on page 26