September 26 Illinois History Minute

It’s September 26th, the day in 1833 that the second Treaty of Chicago was signed by the United States and the Potawatomi and related tribes. It required the Potawatomi to move west to new reservation lands in the Kansas Territory. The actual removal happened five years later, and by this day in 1838, more than 800 Potawatomi members were traveling on what came to be known as the Potawatomi Trail of Death.

Author, cartoonist and songwriter Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago on this day in 1930. Silverstein’s song, “A Boy Named Sue”, was country singer Johnny Cash’s biggest hit. Other songs also became hits when recorded by others, including “The Unicorn” by the Irish Rovers and “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’” by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show.  Silverstein also produced children’s books, including “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “The Giving Tree”.