Be proud!

A pic from Lee Bey. You may remember him from the Sun-Times or even CBS2 and he used to work for this city of Chicago.

This painted sign you would see on 95th Street and Michigan Avenue right in the drive-thru of Pizza Hut/KFC. This is an ad for a now defunct black-owned bank, but I'll let Mr. Lee Bey tell you the story and check out more of his photographs...

..and yet, a little sad. This sweet ghost sign from the uptight/outtasight 1970s was for Independence Bank of Chicago, one the nation's largest black-owned banks. Offices were at 79th and Cottage Grove and, early on, 79th and Stony Island in the city's black middle-class South Side communities. Independence and Seaway National Bank were both black owned and though they were born of utter racism---black folks formed their own banks because white-owned banks weren't that keen on lending to them--they were sources of pride, especially on the black South Side. The slogan on this sign, frankly, almost brings a tear to the eye so simple, elegant and of times: "Be proud." Then came the Community Reinvestment Act of the 1980s which all but forced major banks to make loans in black America and open branches there. Suddenly there was competition for Independence and other black-owned banks. Independence hung tough and even acquired the viable and white-owned Drexel Bank. Sadlly, Independence is no longer around. It got bought out by Shorebank in the 1990s. Seaway still exists, but there are rumbles every year about them selling.

You can always visit their original headquarters near 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. It is of course a branch of ShoreBank now! I wonder if I might be able to take a few pictures when the weather warms up.

BTW, you can look at the profile of former owner Alvin Boutte. I wonder how I can get my hands on some of these interviews with those prominent blacks.