(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A stretch of 79th Street on Chicago's South Side is now a State-Designated Cultural District.
“Mahalia's Mile” -- located on 79th from State Street to Cottage Grove --honors the Queen of Gospel music, Mahalia Jackson.
“She was the Beyonce of the 1950s,” says Nedra Sims Fears, executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative.
It requested the special state designation to spotlight not only Jackson, but the rich cultural legacy of Chatham.
“It has been a historically Black community since the 1950s, and we have had really significant notables from our community from Mahalia Jackson to Ernie Banks to George Johnson.
Fears said the new recognition will help her organization to continue to tell the story of Chatham for years to come.
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