Overton Legacy
Spingarn Medal
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) presents the Spingarn Medal to African Americans of distinguished achievement. In 1927, Anthony Overton Jr. won the award for pioneering Victory Life Insurance. Other notable Spingarn medal recipients include W. E. B. Du Bois (1920), Mary McLeod Bethune (1935), Marian Anderson (1939), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1957), and Maya Angelou (1994).
Lewis, Eva Overton and Julian Herman Lewis, MD, PhD Collection, [Box 7, Folder 6], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Bee Building Dedication
The multi-use building that housed all of Anthony Jr.'s enterprises became known as the Bee Building since the Chicago Bee operated out of it. Once the newspaper and other businesses dissolved, the Bee Building was abandoned for decades. The redevelopment of the Bronzeville neighborhood in the late 1990s encouraged the Chicago Public Library and community members to repurpose the Bee Building as a library. Up to that point, the neighborhood had not had a full-service public library in over 30 years.
On May 4, 1996, the building was dedicated in Anthony Overton Jr.’s honor to the Chicago Public Library, becoming the Chicago Bee Branch. Anthony’s descendants, including his granddaughter Sheila Overton-Levi, were present for the ceremony.
Lewis, Eva Overton and Julian Herman Lewis, MD, PhD Collection, [Box 4, Folder 51], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Lewis, Eva Overton and Julian Herman Lewis, MD, PhD Collection, [Box 4, Folder 51], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Lewis, Eva Overton and Julian Herman Lewis, MD, PhD Collection, [Box 4, Folder 51], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
“It seems fitting, somehow, that a building once owned by black businessman Anthony Overton would help jump-start Bronzeville redevelopment.” - Lee Bey
Chicago Metro News, Lewis, Eva Overton and Julian Herman Lewis, MD, PhD Collection, [Box 4, Folder 51], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Anthony Overton Elementary School
Anthony Overton Elementary School was built in 1963 and named after Anthony Overton Jr. It is located at 221 E. 49th Street in the predominantly Black Bronzeville neighborhood where Anthony Jr.’s success took place.
Lewis, Eva Overton and Julian Herman Lewis, MD, PhD Collection, [Box 4, Folder 49], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
