Lee Bey: The Urban Observer

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(photo by Lee Bey) 

We seldom venture indoors at the Urban Observer, but today I thought I'd make an exception. This is a detail of a mural inside the Wabash YMCA at 38th and Wabash in the city's Bronzeville community. Once known as the "Colored Man's Y", the building was an important stop for African Americans who arrived in Chicago from the South during the Great Migration of the early to mid 20th century. There were sports, classes and other activities designed to ease the transition from farm to city--all celebrated in this triumphant 1936 mural by African American artist William Edouard Scott. The old Y sat vacant for years until it was rescued by a consortium of local churches in the 1990s. Today, the restored building--is the Renaissance Apartments. And the once battered mural shines again.