GALEWOOD — A museum and community center dedicated to celebrating Black history through art exhibits, cultural events and educational programs has opened on the West Side.
The Future Drive Empowerment Center opened last month at 6914 W. North Ave. with a goal of preserving Black history while developing the next generation of West Side youth, museum officials said. The museum is open for weekly appointments with plans for public hours and programs in the works.
Guests walking into the center immediately step into a foyer filled with some of Chicago’s most recognizable figures. Monitors in the walls display speeches by former mayors Harold Washington and Lori Lightfoot, current Mayor Brandon Johnson and former President Barack Obama, among other figures.
From the foyer, guests enter the museum’s hallway, which serves as a wall of fame highlighting African Americans’ contributions to sports, broadcasting and civil rights. Portraits of Michael Jordan, broadcaster Robin Roberts and more all frame a large wall dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., which includes a monitor displaying iconic moments from the Civil Rights Movement leader.
A room directly across from King’s exhibit features more civil rights icons and highlights the history of segregation in America. Water fountains with labels of “Colored” and “white” are centered on a wall that also displays a collage of images from this period. Monitors feature slideshows about leaders, including Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois, alongside mementos from pre-slavery Africa.
This museum is only one of three functions of the Future Drive Empowerment Center.
An education center and recording studio are also housed in the building. All three components are part of the center’s emphasis on the relationship of history with community engagement to address ongoing issues such as violence.
“Everything is hand-in-hand — every issue that our community is facing, every crisis we’ve been going through for so long in Chicago — with violence,” Empowerment Center administrator Natasha Hall said. “We definitely want to have a hand in trying to absolve some of that learned behavior. It’s about starting young.”
The education center includes a large theater with political figures lining the walls. It also houses a multipurpose room that can be used for screenings, lectures and other events. The center plans to hold financial literacy seminars, programs for older neighbors, workforce development training and after-school programs.
The center’s recording studio is being finished, with plans for audio production, engineering and mixing programs plus open recording sessions.
The center’s emphasis on education and Black history comes from a pivotal moment that inspired founder Jimmie Gardner to pursue the project.
A 2010 competition between groups of kids from Amundsen Park and from Riis Park was formed while both parks’ gymnasiums were under construction. Youth from both parks competed in different competitions against each other, including a Black history trivia competition where the majority-Black youth group was beaten by the other, predominately white and Latino youth group, Gardner said.
“I saw how those other ethnic groups were educated on who we were, and we weren’t educated on where we came from,” Gardner said. “The message was very clear that our children are failing in African-American history.”
Gardner also cites recent efforts to ban critical race theory and remove curriculum about Black history in parts of the United States as further motivation for the center’s opening.
“The United States and the president are saying to us that history should be lost, and it’s not their decision if history should be lost,” Gardner said.
The center started in Gardner’s basement in 2020 before moving the following year to 5404 W. Madison St. In March 2023, the center acquired its current location and completely renovated it from its past use as a law office.
Leaders at the center hope the opening can represent the West Side having a stake in Chicago Black history that is distinct from South Side institutions such as the DuSable Black History Museum.
“It shows the rest of the world how great people on the West Side are but nobody shined a light on us,” said center Vice President Willie Kelley. “We would like to teach our children how to be leaders and entrepreneurs, while preparing them to be productive, successful members of society.”
To make an appointment or donate to the center, visit its website.
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