North First Street

Introduction

As part of the eBlackCU project a number of texts, images and maps on local African-American history are being digitized and placed online. This section of the North First Street exhibit features these digitized texts, along with other internet resources on North First Street created by various media outlets and private individuals. If you come across a site with more information on North First Street please contribute the link to this exhibit by clicking Contribute.

Digitized texts

North First Street Revitalization Project. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/151
Two volume report on the proposed revitalization of North First Street, prepared by Urban Planning students under the direction of Leonard Heumann for the City of Champaign.

North First Street File. Champaign County Historical Archives. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/141.
Clippings file on North First Street put together by Archives staff. Includes reports on the buildings along North First Street compiled by volunteers from the Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA). 

John Lee Johnson Papers. North First Street Files. Selections Only. Illinois History Survey and Lincoln Collections. University Library. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/145.
Selections from the John Lee Johnson Papers, donated to the University Library in 2008 by Paulette Coleman, documenting Johnson's involvement in the revitalization of North First Street in the 1990s and 2000s.

Community Advocacy Depot Files. Urban League Archives. Champaign County Historical Archives. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/139.
Files on this social service agency that emerged because of pressure placed on the University by local African-American activists.

Progress Association for Economic Development Files. Champaign County Historical Archives. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/140.
Adjacent to the Community Advocacy Depot,  the PAED was a completely independent activism center run by John Lee Johnson in the early 1970s. 

Black-Owned Businesses Clippings File. Doris K. Wylie Hoskins Archive for Cultural Diversity. Early American Museum. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/157.
Clippings file on Black-Owned businesses collected by the late Mrs. Hoskins, primarily in the 1990s to support her work with the Champaign County African American History Committee.

African-American Business directories

Since the black power movement in the 1960s and 1970s, there has been a concerted effort to try to support minority owned businesses. These directories, produced by organizations such as the Douglas Branch Library and the Urban League, represent this concern. 

Champaign-Urbana Minority Business and Organization Directory. Urban League. 1974. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/29.

African-American Classified Directory for the Greater Champaign-Urbana Area. Douglas Branch Library. 1993. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/19.

In the Know. African-American Business Directory. Urban League. 2002-2003. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/152.

City of Champaign Minority Business Directory. 2008. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/131. 

Websites on North First Street

Websites on the North First Street Farmers Market:
Blog 1 - http://goosepondchurchfarmersmarket.blogspot.com/
Blog 2 - http://thefarmersmarketonhistoricn1st.blogspot.com/
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174317635197&index=1

Rose & Taylor Barber and Beauty Shop. Official Site. http://www.roseandtaylor.com/
Barber shop's new owners will still stress family atmosphere, News-Gazette Story. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/115

Articles on Hambrick Plaza Development. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/159. 

Three-Part Daily Illini Story on North First Street. 2005. http://eblackcu.net/portal/items/show/158. 

Champaign Urbana Hair Directory. (Prepared by Students in Abdul Alkalimat's LIS490: Digital Divide, Fall 2009). http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~09fa490ddg1/haircarewebsite/directorymainpage.html