"Alvin J.Boutte" {October 10,1929-April 1.2012}

Cofonder and past chairman and CEO of Independence Bank (at one time America's largest

African American owned bank),was born in Lake Charles Louisiana.He was the youngest of 10 children.His mama Adorea Darensbourg was a seamstress,and his daddy Arthur Boutte was a gardner.A child of the Great Depression,Alvin and his older siblings attended Sacred Heart elementary,Junior,and high schools.He later attended Xavier University in New Orleans on a basketball scholarship.While at Xavier,he met his future wife,Barbara Gonzaque,who was a music major.Alvin created a number of businesses while at Xavier that served the needs of his fellow students.Two notable endeavors were a laundry pickup business ans a payment collection business for male students.He earned and undergraduate degree in Pharmacy in 1951.

During his tenure at Xavier,Alvin met several other ambitious and motivated young men who became friends;during one intense conversation,several of them decided to move to Chicago.Alvin entered the U.S. Army,before moving to the city.He successfully completed Officer Candidate School where he attained the rank of Captain and was stationed in Germany.He was honorably discharged in 1955 and returned to the United States where he settled in Chicago with his family.By that point a number of friends and extended family members had also relocated to the city as part of the Great Migration that brought tens of thousands of Southern African Americans to the city between 1915 & 1970.Alvin opened and operated a drugstore which quickly grew into a chain of stores across the African American neighborhoods of the city.In 1964,Alvin now a successful businessman,joined fellow African American business leaders George Johnson,whose Johnson Products Company (manufacturer of Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen) was the largest African American cosmetics company in institution grew to be the nation's and John Johnson (no relation),whose Ebony Magazine was the largest African American- owned  periodical in the country.The three men established Independence Bank.This Institution grew to nation's largest African American owned bank in 1988 when it acquired Drexel National Bank,another South Side Chicago African American bank.In 1955,Indepedence bank had fallen on hard times and was sold to white-owned Shorebank.When the Civil Rights came north to Chicago in 1966 with the arrival of Dr.Martin Luther King,Alvin and other African American businessmen began financially supporting Martin his organization,the Southern Christian leadership Conference.Alvin organized a group of Chicago African American businessmen who raised $ 55,000 to finance Martin's work.He argued that he and other businessmen could provide crucial financial assistance to help the thousands of protestors who took to the streets to demand an end to segregation and racial discrimination in Chicago.During his lifetime,Alvin served on the boards for several organizations including,most notably,twenty years on the board of  The Chicago Metropolitan Insurance Company.He also served as advisor to the Small Business Adminstration,and was an elected member of the Chicago Board of Education.In 1971,Alvin was honored as man of the year by the Chicago Urban League.He was the recipient of several other honors and tributes in his later years.