The Progress of Our People: A Story of Black Representation at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
CHICAGO TRIBUNE April 30 1893 WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION OPENS TOMORROW You’ve been waiting for this day ladies and gentlemen of Chicago Two whole years you’ve been waiting and the wait is finally over After all the planning and building building the World’s Columbian Exposition will open its gates to the eager throng on May 1 And we can promise promise you this it was worth every moment of anticipation As you might guess from the name this fair was supposed supposed to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus reaching North America But wait you say Didn’t that happen in 1492 And isn’t that now four hundred one years ago You sir and madam are correct in your mathematics And you can thank all the political bickering from Chicago’s City Hall all the way to the Capitol in Washington DC for the delay But despite the struggle we finally have a fair that our city and our nation can be proud of Citizens of chicago chicago the whole world is now in your backyard And if you can’t make it on opening day you will have six months to explore the wonders of the World’s columbian columbian Exposition 4
Chapter 1 Lorraine Williams set down the newspaper and reached across the breakfast table to grab her father’s calloused hand Papa I can’t believe the Exposition finally opens tomorrow Tell me more about it Pleeeeease As he bit into his bread Joseph Williams sighed Lorraine Lorraine knew he was sick of talking about the fairgrounds he’d helped build but she couldn’t get enough information out of him There’s a big lake you said she egged him on You know perfectly well there’s lots of pools Rainie since I told you about them a thousand times already he said From the glint in his eye Lorraine knew he didn’t really really mind There’s the great big Lagoon with the Wooded Island in the center and the North Pond and the canals And below that there’s the Basin and the South Pond I 5
laid the concrete for three of those Helped fill them up too Real big job buildings Lorraine wriggled with excitement With all that water at the fairgrounds how’s there even room for any Ha There’s so many buildings Rainie Big beautiful fancy buildings Make the ponds and such look like little barrels of water Most of them aren’t built to last a long time though Just paste over a wood frame painted white That’s why they call it the White City All them huge buildings buildings are like castles When it’s sunny you have to squint your eyes And they got lights on them so they even glow in the night Too excited to hold her questions until she’d swallowed Lorraine asked with her mouth full You said your favorite building is Machinery Hall right Oh my that’s a fine one Papa said leaning back in his seat with a satisfied smile Got steeples on it like a fancy old church reaching right up to the sky And all these columns and arches lining the outside And curved roofs made out of glass 6
But you didn’t build that one did you Lorraine asked Nope So how come it’s your favorite Papa Maybe I enjoy it because I didn’t build it Ha I didn’t have a chance to get sick of it like I did the ones I worked on And the last few weeks I was mostly putting staff on the Agricultural Hall right across the South Canal What’s staff again Basically a mix of cement and plaster Nice and light but it isn’t meant to last It spreads pretty easily but my arms sure got tired But all day long I could look over and see that fine Machinery Hall rising up from nothing and turning into something so grand I can’t wait to see it Lorraine grinned Yeah I know Papa didn’t meet her gaze What I don’t know is why they call it Machinery Hall What kind of an ugly name is that for such a pretty building Jumping up from the table Lorraine cried out Ooh I know I know 7
