Welcome to the city of Chicago. Father Jacques Marquette, French-born missionary of the Jesuit order, and Louis Jolliet, Canadian explorer and mapmaker, were the first Europeans to view the land on which the City of Chicago was to stand. Returning with five other Europeans from exploration of the Mississippi River, Marquette and Jolliet struck out alone and found a large Indian village near the present city of Ottawa. Guided by friendly Indians in the Fall of 1673, the two men first traversed the region that is now Chicago.
Jean Baptist Point DuSable was a black American pioneer, and he was the first non-Native American resident known to build a house and start a trading post on the land that became Chicago. DuSable's father was a merchant, and his mother was Haitian. DuSable left Haiti in the 1770's to go to North America, specifically the Great Lakes. In 1773, he had a farm near Peoria. He was so loyal to the Americans that once he moved there, he was arrested by the British in 1779, and spent the next few years as a prisoner in Fort Mackinac.
Very little is known about the Chicagoland area from 1770 to 1779. Somehow, during that time, DuSable managed to keep a British trading post called the Pinery on St. Clair River, now called Michigan. That was the first permanent building in that area. He became rich. After that, DuSable went to what is now Chicago, at the mouth of the Chicago River, on the shores of Lake Michigan, called Fort Dearborn. He was the first non-Native American resident of that area. He married a Potowatomie Native American named Kittahawa, also called Catherine. DuSable had the first marriage, and also held the very first election. He traded fur and grain, and called the place he was living in the essential trading place. Later, he moved to Missouri. On August 28, 1818, DuSable died in St. Charles, Missouri. The name of Fort Dearborn was changed to Chicago in 1830. Some people say that Jean Baptist Point DuSable started African-American history in Chicago.
Although Bid Whist is virtually unknown among European Americans, the game is especially popular among African Americans. The status of Bid Whist is possibly a result of the black community's admiration of Pullman porters, who, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black trade union. Learning to play Bid Whist is nearly a "rite-of-passage" among black college students and the Congressional Black Caucus members have an annual tournament. In Chicago, a city with a population of more than a million African Americans, a major daily paper has included a column on Bid Whist.
Chicago Online Bid Whist Players is composed by a group of Bid Whist players in Chicago, and play online at Bidwhistonline. You can find out online bid whist tournament information from Myleague.com/bid and Myleague.com/ibwc. We welcome you to come to the Fifth Annual Bid Whist Event in Chicago. We want you to enjoy yourself and have lots of fun.