Nathan Kellogg McGill photograph collection, [ca. 1909-1934]

  • Collection ID 2000.0162
  • Creator Names McGill, Nathan Kellogg, 1888-1946.
  • Title Nathan Kellogg McGill photograph collection [graphic].
  • Dates [ca. 1909-1934]
  • Physical description 13 photographic prints : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.
  • Collection summary Studio portrait photographs and informal photographs of African American lawyer Nathan K. McGill; his older brother Simuel Decatur McGill (also a lawyer); Nathan McGill's first wife Idalee McGill and their sons Simuel and Nathan, Jr. (ca. 1922-1929). A 1913 image shows Simuel and Nathan McGill behind the wheel of a car soon after Nathan's graduation from law school. Other images include the McGill family with a limousine and driver outside their home at 4806 South Parkway ca. 1928 (later King Drive); Nathan McGill with his sons in offices of the Chicago Defender ca. 1930; a group associated with an early Bud Billiken Parade, including Nathan McGill, Noble Sissle, Bud Billiken, Duke Ellington, and Earl Hines ("Fatha" Hines), ca. 1930; Nathan McGill with the stars of "Amos and Andy" radio program, who served as Grand Marshalls of an early Bud Billiken Parade ca. 1930; and a committee of the Century of Progress world's fair, posed at a table with the fair visible in background ca. 1933.
  • Biographical or Historical Note Nathan Kellogg McGill was born in Florida, 1888, and grew up in a house on Eighth Street and History Avenue in the Georgetown community of Sanford, Florida. His stepfather was a minister and a shoemaker who maintained a workshop behind the family home. Nathan McGill graduated from the Cookman Institute in Jacksonville in 1909; graduated from law school at Boston University in 1912. His older brother, S.D. McGill, was a prominent Florida attorney who worked on many NAACP cases. In the 1920s, Nathan McGill moved to Chicago; 1925-1934, he worked as General Counsel and Secretary to the Robert S. Abbott Publishing Company, Inc. (publisher of the major African American newspaper, the Chicago Defender). McGill was active in the Republican Party and was a Republican candidate for various judicial positions in the 1920s-1930s. He served as Cook County's first African American Assistant State's Attorney (1925-1926), and he served on the Chicago Public Library board in the mid-1930s. He died in Chicago, 1946 May 8.
  • Acquisition information Gift of Simuel McGill (2000.0162).
  • Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Credit photographers.
  • Location of Other Archival Materials Note Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Nathan Kellogg McGill papers.
  • Names
    • McGill, Nathan Kellogg, 1888-1946.
    • McGill, Idalee.
    • McGill, Nathan.
    • McGill, Simuel Decatur.
    • McGill, Simuel.
    • Sissle, Noble, 1889-
    • Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974.
    • Hines, Earl, 1903-1983.
    • Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.)
  • Uniform Title
    • Chicago defender.
    • Amos 'n' Andy (Radio program)
  • Subjects
    • African Americans Illinois Chicago 1910-1939.
    • Families Illinois Chicago 1910-1939. lctgm
    • Lawyers Illinois Chicago 1910-1939. lctgm
    • Lawyers Florida 1910-1939. lctgm
    • Newspaper publishing Illinois Chicago 1910-1939. lctgm
    • Parades Illinois Chicago 20th century.
  • Geographic coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.) 1910-1939.
    • Douglas (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Genre
    • Gelatin silver prints. gmgpc
    • Portrait photographs. gmgpc
  • Geographic name United States Illinois Cook County.