Calling Oprah: Story of Chicago’s 1st black banker Hollywood worthy

“Binga: The Rise and Fall of Chicago’s First Black Banker” by Don Hayner, former editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. | Northwestern University Press

The Hayner file . . .

Finally!

After years of dedicated research comes a Chicago story honored at a book launch party for former Sun-Times Editor-in-Chief Don Hayner’s much anticipated new tome: “Binga: The Rise and Fall of Chicago’s First Black Banker.”

Held earlier this week at the West Loop’s Herbarium at Bad Hunter, the gathering featured a who’s who in the Chicago journalism world.

Amongst the adoring crowd was semi-retired Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell, who gave remarks and earlier worked with Hayner decades ago on a series of stories based on a poll of racial attitudes in Chicago called the “Great Divide.”

Others in attendance included: mega media maven Carol Marin; Sun-Times editor-in-chief Chris Fusco; Block Club editor/former Sun-Times metro editor Shamus Toomey; former Sun-Times/Chicago Tribune stellar journo Mark Jacob; Sun-Times Illinois political savant Scott Fornek; former Sun-Times editor-in-chief/Crain’s Chicago Business editor Jim Kirk; and brilliant Sun-Times Editorial editor Tom McNamee, who co-authored three Chicago-themed books with Hayner, include “Streetwise Chicago” in 1988.

McNamee proclaimed Hayner’s new book a hit.

Former Chicago Sun-Times editor Don Hayner

Hayner’s book traces the life of Jesse Binga, an African American who rose from nothing to the heights of banking only to see his life crash, go to prison and finish up at the bottom “where he started.”

A symbol of hope in Chicago’s black belt in the 1920s, Binga may have been able to fulfill the American dream — but he was also punished for it.

“Binga, who lived in a white neighborhood, saw his home bombed six times and his real estate business bombed twice after helping black people move into white neighborhoods in an effort to break racial boundaries based on discrimination,” said Hayner.

“It became a lightning rod for the deadliest race riot in Chicago history in 1919,” he added.

Having never heard this story of Chicago in my 52 odd years covering this great city, Sneed is putting film producer Oprah Winfrey on notice.

And many thanks, Anne Findley, for helping to honor this remarkable man and his book. But Sneed’s final shoutout is to Hayner’s beloved wife, Dawn whom he’d admit made all this possible.