Kitihawa Point Du Sable (also known by her Christian name, Catherine) was a

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

woman who, with her husband

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (; also spelled Point de Sable, Point au Sable, Point Sable, Pointe DuSable, or Pointe du Sable; before 1750 – August 28, 1818) is regarded as the first permanent non-Native settler of what would later become Chic ...

, established the first permanent settlement in what is now the city of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. By the late 1700s, Kitihawa and her husband had set up their farm and trading post near the mouth of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). The river is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chic ...

and Lake Michigan.

Biography

There are no known records of Kitihawa's life before her marriage to

Jean Baptiste Jean-Baptiste () is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was Kin ...

. Kitihawa and her husband were married in the 1770s in a Potawatomi ceremony, followed by a Catholic ceremony on October 27, 1788, in

Cahokia Cahokia Mounds ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis. The state archaeology park lies in south-western Illinois between East St. L ...

, Illinois. Kitihawa and Jean Baptiste had two children, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Jr., and Suzanne.

Representations in arts, entertainment, and media

* A December 2019 article in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' mentions a proposal to rename

Lake Shore Drive Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive; also known as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, the Outer Drive, the Drive, LSD or DLSD) is a semi-limited access Limited-access highway, expressway that runs alongside the sh ...

for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. The article suggests rethinking the history of the city and considering the centuries that Native American people used the area as a trading post -- and renaming Lake Shore Drive for Kitihawa instead. * In August 2019
Floating Museum
created an art installation called "Founders," which features Kitihawa, her husband,

, and a child. The goal of the piece is to bring attention to the fact that Chicago was originally founded by a Haitian man and a Potawatomi woman. As part of this installation, the poem "Kitihawa Speaks," written by Osage poet

Elise Paschen Elise Paschen is an American poet and member of the Osage Nation. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Poetry in Motion, a program which places poetry posters in subways and buses across the country. Career and education The daughter of renowne ...

, was displayed in CTA Greenline cars. * A photographic art exhibit called "Kitihawa's Chandelier" by Nicholas Henry, "honors the historical, cultural and racial fusion of an African and Native American."

References

{{reflist Potawatomi people