DID YOU KNOW that The Forum is the only major retail and hospitality complex from the Black Metropolis era to have survived to the 21st century largely intact?

In its heyday, Bronzeville bustled with thriving, locally-owned, small businesses, the circulation of resident dollars and attraction of visitor spending, leadership in civic, faith, and fraternal sectors, and a vibrant cultural and social scene that created gospel, electric blues, innovations in jazz, literature, dance, visual arts and so much more.

The Forum was a catalyst and hub of this activity. It hosted important labor and civil rights meetings, provided space for thousands of social and fraternal events - along with the music, dance, and theater performances that fueled them, and offered a diverse range of retail and hospitality products for its neighborhood.

While decades of disinvestment caused the departure of three quarters of Bronzeville residents and the collapse of the Black Metropolis, leading to closure of The Forum and demolition of dozens of buildings right around it, The Forum still stands.

The Forum's community refused to let it be torn down.

We're now working to bring it back! We need The Forum to be, as before, a catalyst for the social, political, and economic development of Bronzeville.

We're reopening The Forum's West Annex and beginning masonry repairs on its Forum Hall and North Annex structures in 2026, while expanding our historical research and community storytelling.

Join us in celebrating, amplifying and progressing this work.

Visual Storytelling: Taylor Lane Creative