BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO:
Section 1. Pursuant to an ordinance heretofore passed by the City Council which allows erection of honorary street-name signs, the Commissioner of Transportation shall take the necessary action for standardization of E 91st Street and South Houston Avenue as "Jesus 'Chuy' Negrete Way".
Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th Ward Alderwoman
Section 2. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and publication.
Date: ijlH fa
Office of Budget and Management 121 N. LaSalle, Room 604 Chicago, IL 60602
To Whom It May Concern:
I, SufuM faJ/tiyvS/O C¥£^erman of the Ward, hereby authorize the Office of Budget Management to withdraw the funds associated with the cost of installation for this honorary street designation for J ISuS Chuy'J N taf0^ from my:
VvVard'
^ s annual menu program budget
□ Ward's aldermanic expanse allowance
upon passage ofthis designation ordinance, pursuant to Section 2-8-040 of the Chicago Municipal Code.
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Request honorary street sign for Jesus "Chuy" Negrete, Chicago Folksinger of the Chicano Movement
Jesus "Chuy" Negrete, 72, Chicago-based folksinger and lecturer who rose to nationwide prominence in the 1970s Chicano Movement and was hailed by Studs Terkel as "the Chicano Woody Guthrie," died Thursday, May 27.
For decades, my brother (Negrete) entertained and inspired successive generations of Latinos and many youth as he performed and taught in colleges and universities across the nation. He presented concerts, lectures, and workshops to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, in venues ranging from public schools and libraries to union rallies and civic festivals, from prisons to senior centers.
With his guitar and harmonica in hand, Negrete wove together songs, poetry, and oral histories in English and Spanish to retell Mexican and Mexican-American history from pre-Columbian times to the present. He specialized in the creation, interpretation, and study of Mexican and Mexican-American folk music— particularly the corrido fonn of running-verse ballads—revealing the cultures and experiences of Latinos, immigrants, and laborers through his music.
Negrete, born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, was ferried across the Rio Grande with his family as a 1-year-old and spent his early years in Texas, where his parents were migrant farm workers. In later life, he was closely aligned with the farmworker movement, performing for Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers and Baldemar Velasquez's Farm Labor Organizing Committee.
From the age of 7, Negrete lived and grew up at 9125 S. Houston Avenue in South Chicago and was reared in the steel-mill culture of South Chicago. In the 1970's after meeting and being inspired by playwright and director Luis Valdez, Negrete began his performance career leading and founded the "street theater" in South Chicago known as, Teatro del Barrio. He recruited aspiring Chicano actors, mostly youth, including his younger sisters Juanita, Santa, and Rosa, to travel the country and Mexico presenting satirical folkloric shows at schools, colleges, various other venues. He and Rosa later performed for a time as a music-and-multimedia duo, Flor y Canto.
Negrete made numerous radio and television appearances and was associated with several films. For more than a decade, he hosted "Radio Rebelde," a weekly
bilingual talk-and-music program addressing issues faced by immigrant workers, currently broadcasting on Loyola University's WLUW, 88.7 FM.
Negrete attended Chicago Vocation High School, Class of 1968 (CVS). Holding degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago State University, Negrete was an expert in multicultural education who taught in Chicago Public Schools and later in colleges and universities including the University of Illinois at Chicago, Robert Morris University, Roosevelt University, and Indiana University Northwest. His specialties in educational anthropology and ethnomusicology led to research projects studying the Mexican-U.S. border economy, Mexican railroad workers in Kansas City, Kansas, and at-risk Chicano youth in Chicago and elsewhere.
As a Bannerman Fellow, Negrete spent a sabbatical in North Carolina researching the culture of non-Spanish-speaking indigenous immigrant farm workers from Mexico. As a Smithsonian Institution Fellow, he researched and developed multimedia programs on "Images of Mexican Labor" and "Mexican Women and Their Music." U.S. Representative Jesus "Chuy Garcia presented a resolution on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives noting my brother's accomplishments. Including a declaration at the Chicago City Council Cook County Board of Commissioners Also see: https://www.chuynegrete.com
Negrete is survived by his wife, Rita Rousseau; sons Joaquin and Lucas Negrete-Rousseau, both of Chicago; and four sisters: Martha N. Bustos of Dolton, Juanita Negrete-Phillips and Santa Negrete-Perez, both of South Chicago, and Rosa Negrete Livieri of Skokie.
Potential interviewees to speak of Jesus "Chuy" Negrete : Juanita Negrete-Phillips (sister), Rosa Negrete Livieri, (312) 292-6847 (sister), Carlos Cumpian, (773) 616-0918 (Chicano poet, can discuss Chuy's role in the Chicano Movement)
Lorenzo Cano, (713) 480-8358 (long-term client, University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies)
Baldemar Velasquez, (419) 243-3456 (Farm Labor Organizing Committee)
Edward James Olmos visited Casa Aztlan (1970's) and greets Jesus "Chuy" Negrete. In his early years, Chuy promoted one of Edward Olmos's first movies, The Balada de Gregorio Cortez though out South Chicago.
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