Louis B. Anderson

CTL-E-6228 · Person · politician · 1870–1946; Chicago alderman 1917–1933

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07423 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6228.

Louis Bernard Anderson, born April 17, 1870, in Petersburg, Virginia, was the Chicago lawyer, journalist, and Republican politician who represented the 2nd Ward — most of the Douglas community area, including much of Bronzeville — on the Chicago City Council from 1917 to 1933. He came to Chicago in 1892 as an assistant for the World's Columbian Exposition, graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1897, befriended Robert S. Abbott, and became a contributing editor of Abbott's Chicago Defender. Elected alderman in 1917 after his predecessor Oscar De Priest, he became the second African American to serve on the City Council and served as Mayor William Hale Thompson's floor leader throughout the 1920s. In 1922 he had his house built at 3800 South Calumet Avenue, a Flemish Revival house in what is now the landmarked Giles-Calumet District. He did not run for re-election in 1933, lost a 1936 congressional nomination bid to De Priest, and died of bronchial pneumonia at his Chicago home on May 28, 1946.

The record

• Also known as: Louis Bernard Anderson, Louis Anderson

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Louis B. Anderson entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6228 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2431 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: CHICAGO-FIRST record: Anderson is this batch's Chicago figure — 2nd Ward alderman for the Douglas/Bronzeville area 1917-1933, Defender contributing editor, and builder of the landmarked 3800 S. Calumet house. All three opened sources are Chicago sources (African American Registry biography; City of Chicago Landmarks; Chicago Collections/Municipal Reference Library aldermen list). Vital status: Born April 17, 1870, Petersburg, Virginia (African American Registry). Died May 28, 1946, of bronchial pneumonia at his Chicago home, after an illness since Christmas (African American Registry). Deceased — verified. STATISTICS — Tenure: 2nd Ward alderman 1917-1933 (African American Registry; Chicago Collections list independently gives Louis Anderson 1917-1933, preceded by Oscar DePriest 1915-1917 and followed by William L. Dawson 1933-1939). The ward had two aldermen until 1923, which is why Robert R. Jackson (1918-1923) overlaps Anderson's tenure in the list — a structure point, not a conflict. No vote totals or other statistics are carried; the 1929 election figures circulating in secondary coverage were not in any opened source. The Registry's statement that the surrounding area took the name 'Bronzeville' from Anderson's 1922 house is carried in notes only, as that source's claim, not as settled fact: 'In 1922 he had architects build his house at 3800 S. Calumet; the surrounding area would take on the name of this house Bronzeville' (African American Registry). MEDIA: photo HELD (HELD — candidate: the portrait photograph of Anderson carried on the opened African American Registry entry (file Louis_B._Anderson1921, sourced there to a 1921 depiction). No license claimed or verified; HELD under CTL-PHOTO-001 pending a file-level record.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6228-louis-b-anderson.svg); video HELD (Checked the CTL Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 entries) by name and title on 2026-10-16: no Louis B. Anderson entry. NAME-COLLISION WARNING: the graph's James Henry Anderson (CTL-E-4473) is a different person and no Anderson Short was matched to this entity. Video HELD.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (Checked the CTL Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 entries) by name and title on 2026-10-16) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Relationships

• Bronzeville — associated with
  Anderson represented the 2nd Ward serving most of the Douglas community area including much of Bronzeville (African American Registry), and his 1922 house at 3800 S. Calumet stands in the Douglas/Bronzeville landmark district (City of Chicago Landmarks). CTL-E-0205 is the graph's Bronzeville Neighborhood entity.
• Chicago Defender — affiliated with
  The African American Registry records that Anderson befriended Robert S. Abbott and became a contributing editor of Abbott's Chicago Defender.
• Oscar DePriest — related to
  Anderson was elected in 1917 after his predecessor Oscar Stanton De Priest (African American Registry); the Chicago Collections list gives DePriest 1915-1917 immediately before Anderson 1917-1933 in Ward 2; Anderson later lost the 1936 Republican congressional nomination to De Priest (Registry).
• William Dawson — related to
  The Chicago Collections Ward 2 list gives William L. Dawson 1933-1939 immediately following Louis Anderson 1917-1933 — Dawson succeeded Anderson in the seat.

Sources

• African American Registry, Louis B. Anderson, Lawyer born (accessed 2026-10-16) — Born April 17, 1870, Petersburg, Virginia; moved to Washington, D.C. 1889 for journalism; followed Major Moses P. Handy to Chicago in 1892 for the World's Columbian Exposition; Chicago-Kent College of Law graduate 1897; befriended Robert S. Abbott and became a contributing editor of the Chicago Defender; partner in Anderson-Watkins Film Co. (1913); elected 2nd Ward alderman in 1917 after predecessor Oscar Stanton De Priest; Thompson floor leader through the 1920s; house built 1922 at 3800 S. Calumet; did not run in 1933; lost 1936 Republican congressional nomination to De Priest; died of bronchial pneumonia at his Chicago home May 28, 1946 — http://aaregistry.org/story/louis-b-anderson-lawyer-born/ (build store)
• City of Chicago, Chicago Landmarks, Giles-Calumet District details (accessed 2026-10-16) — District in the Douglas community area, designated a Chicago Landmark July 29, 2009; the house at 3800 S. Calumet was built for Louis B. Anderson, who was elected Alderman in 1917, becoming the second African-American to serve on the Chicago City Council — http://webapps1.chicago.gov/landmarksweb/web/districtdetails.htm?disId=261 (primary source · build store)
• Chicago Collections / Municipal Reference Library, List of Chicago Aldermen by Ward (rev. 2014) (accessed 2026-10-16) — Ward 2 list: Oscar DePriest 1915-1917; Louis Anderson 1917-1933; Robert R. Jackson 1918-1923 (the ward then had two aldermen); William L. Dawson 1933-1939 — corroborating Anderson's 1917-1933 tenure and its succession — https://guides.chicagocollections.org/ld.php?content_id=82356145 (primary source · build store)

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Record CTL-E-6228 · Combined Graph record U-07423 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 4 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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