Abraham Bolden, 1st Black Secret Service Agent To Guard A President, Honored With Sign Unveiling In Auburn Gresham

AUBURN GRESHAM — Four years ago, Abraham Bolden Sr. — the first Black Secret Service agent to guard a U.S. president — had his name cleared after he received a pardon for a conviction he has said was based in racism and retribution.

Now, Bolden’s name and image are etched onto a plaque on his Auburn Gresham block that honors his historic achievement and service to his country.

The sign, which sits in the 7600 block of South Sangamon Street and highlights one of Bolden’s most notable accomplishments, was revealed Saturday to a crowd of proud neighbors, friends and family members who showed up to honor the man they see as a “living legend.”

“We thank you for your dedicated service to the President, our country, and our community,” Bolden’s sign reads in part. Bolden was also presented with a plaque Saturday and received proclamations recognizing his historic accomplishments from Ald. David Moore (17th) and Mayor Brandon Johnson. 

Breaking Racial Barriers

With the assistance of his son, Daaim Shabazz, the 91-year-old Bolden thanked those who attended and contributed to the sign unveiling.

“I deeply appreciate everyone who came out,” Bolden said. “Deeply.”

The sign unveiling comes over 60 years after Bolden made history as the first Black Secret Service agent assigned to the White House detail.

Bolden was a young Secret Service agent when, in 1961, he was guarding a restroom during a political event at McCormick Place when President John F. Kennedy walked by.

Kennedy stopped and asked Bolden if he was with the Secret Service or Chicago police. After saying he was with the Secret Service, Kennedy asked Bolden if a Black service member has ever guarded a president, to which Bolden said no, according to a recounting of the events Bolden gave to the Tribune in 2010.

Kennedy asked Bolden if he would like to become the first, to which Bolden accepted and was then brought to Washington, the Tribune reported.

It was in Washington that Bolden said he experienced racist and unprofessional behavior, including racial slurs being used against him and other agents drinking on the job, Bolden has said.

After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Bolden attempted to talk to the Warren Commission, tasked with investigating the president’s murder, to discuss unprofessionalism and security lapses in the Secret Service, according to media reports.

Around that time, Bolden was charged with trying to sell a government document in exchange for a $50,000 bribe, according to reports. Bolden consistently maintained his innocence and argued the charges were retaliation for attempting to reveal unprofessional and racist behavior within the agency. 

An initial trial resulted in a hung jury, but he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a subsequent trial resulted in a conviction. He served about three years in federal prison.

Bolden was pardoned by then-President Joe Biden in 2022.

‘He Deserves His Flowers’

Saturday’s sign unveiling was attended by longtime neighbors and friends of Bolden’s, including Sonja Brown James, the secretary for the 76th and Sangamon block club whose family has lived on the block since the 1960s along with the Boldens.

She and other neighbors distributed flyers around the neighborhood to ensure a widely attended event for Bolden, whom she sees as a “root” of the neighborhood. 

Travis Johnson, a friend of Bolden’s who regularly helps his caregiver, Virginia Washington, with household tasks and shopping, believes “any type of recognition that he’s given while he’s still here is great.

“It’s wonderful that he’s being recognized,” Johnson said. “So I think that it lifts his spirits up a little bit too, not being able to get around as much as [he] used to.”

Bolden’s son, Daaim Shabazz, an associate professor of global business at Florida A&M University who remembers his father being arrested when he was a young child, said for many people, Bolden is “the mayor of this block.” He is one of a small number of remaining residents who’ve lived on the street since the ‘60s, and is someone seen as a neighborhood elder.

“He’s been here 60-plus years, and he’s had a lot of support over the years, and I think it was very appropriate that he received that recognition,” Shabazz said. “For so long, this story has been a family story that was only told at barbecues and just family gatherings. 

“It wasn’t a public thing, except those who were around that time in the ’60s where they could remember it,” Shabazz said. “So this is pretty much the cherry on the top, so to speak, of him being honored … [near] where they took him away in handcuffs.”

The idea to honor Bolden through a sign on the block, which he’s lived on since 1962, was the idea of Marilyn Birts, a neighbor of Bolden’s who acts as operations manager for the local block club. During celebrations for Bolden’s 91st birthday, Birts noticed that though Bolden had many awards and honors recognizing his accomplishments, none came from his community.

Birts wanted to change that.

“I didn’t see anything from his block, his community, or anything like that, and that was so wrong, ” she said. “And from that day until this day, I’ve been running ragged, trying to make this happen because he needed to be acknowledged by his community. … Because he’s well-loved. He truly is.”

Birts and other neighbors originally wanted to nominate Bolden for an honorary street sign, she said. But because Chicago law reserves honorary street signs for deceased individuals, they decided on a different kind of sign Bolden could enjoy and feel proud of right now, Birts said. 

Birts contacted the alderman’s office to help with the sign, an intentional step to establish a physical marker of Bolden’s impact and legacy in his own neighborhood. Tiffany Holmes, block club president, believes such intentionality is important when celebrating Black historical figures who are still living, especially during today’s political climate, she said.

“These are things we should know just in general, and this is not something that should just be celebrated just for Black History Month,” Holmes said. “He deserves his flowers while he is still with us. … You think about everything that happened when he was with the Service, and you think about where we are under this administration, I think it really shows that you should keep going forward despite what is happening.”

During Saturday’s sign unveiling, Moore announced he would be reimbursing Birts for the cost of the sign, which he and another neighbor, Jesse Banks, designed, built, and erected together earlier this spring.

About Bolden’s life and legacy, Moore said, “this is a movie in the making.” 

A film or documentary project detailing Bolden’s life and career remains a goal for his family, Shabazz said. A biopic about Bolden was announced earlier this year, although it is unclear if production has begun. Bolden wrote a book about his life and career, “The Echo from Dealey Plaza,” that was published in 2008.

Despite a few brief rain showers and muggy temperatures, the day left Birts feeling “great.” With the help of her neighbors, she expects Bolden’s sign to last for years to come.

“I appreciate all these people because they came together,” she said of Saturday’s event attendees. “Nobody had any issues with anything. Just [said], ‘We’re doing it.’ Because look [who] we’re doing it for.”