Chicago founder Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable has gotten a lot more attention than his wife, Kitihawa, and the contributions she made to the growth of Chicago.
Two women and a Ravenswood school are aiming to change that with a new mural featuring Kitihawa and DuSable on the front and side walls of the North Park Elementary School annex at 2017 W. Montrose Ave.
DuSable “could have never succeeded without collaboration of Kitihawa,” said artist Noelle Garcia, who is a member of the Klamath Tribes in Oregon and lives in Highland Park.
Kitihawa, a member of the Chicago region’s Potawatomi tribe, “was definitely his business partner dealing with the trading posts,” said Monica Rickert-Bolter, who lives in West Ridge and partnered with Garcia on the piece. Rickert-Bolter also belongs to the Potawatomi tribe. Kitihawa helped DuSable work with and navigate her community, she said. The two made a strong team.
But not much else is well known about Kitihawa. Meanwhile DuSable was a French-Haitian explorer who is often credited as Chicago’s first, non-native founder. Lake Shore Drive was renamed to honor him in 2021. So, the two artists found it appropriate to feature Kitihawa as the front person on their mural, which was unveiled Sept. 9.
“As Native American women, we can understand and empathize with Kitihawa,” Garcia said.
The mural was made by hand with paint specially formulated to adhere to brick and allow it to breathe, which in turn protects the paint from sloughing off, Garcia said.
On the alley wall facing east, the mural features Kitihawa writing in a book and gazing north into the distance. DuSable is behind her, looking like he’s about to hike southeast. Lake Michigan stretches behind them with dragonflies, turtles, tall seagrass and other native flora and fauna surrounding them.
On the front wall of the annex, a beaver swims under a window while a river otter sits up in the bottom right corner. Braided grasses stretch across both walls, while blue, pink and brown irises frame the top corner of the annex doorway.
Kitihawa and DuSable were painted in an anime style, which might make young people relate to them more, the artists said.
The women also helped create a curriculum for the North Park students, who will use the mural to learn more about the Indigenous people who lived in and around what is now Chicago. Students and teachers asked questions about why Kitihawa and DuSable were drawn in a certain way, a jumping-off point for the two artists to discuss traditional Native American imagery. Students contributed their own versions of native plants and animals, some of which made it into the mural.
The women said they’re happy with the result and hope it inspires generations of students. Next they are working on a graphic novel, telling the story of Kitihawa and DuSable.
“I’m shocked at how powerful it was,” Garcia said of the mural. “You can feel positivity resonating from this building.”
