CHICAGO | The story of the Great Migration -- the movement of African Americans from the South to the North -- can't be told without Bronzeville.

The story could regain emphasis in January, when U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., is expected to introduce a bill to designate the South Side community in Chicago he represents a National Heritage Area.

The designation will give local, state and federal governments, in cooperation with public and private sectors, an advantage in their efforts to sustain Bronzeville as a cultural tourism market.

Becoming a National Heritage Area also will allow the community to protect its historical assets and natural resources, said John Cosgrove, the executive director of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas.

"Every national heritage area is governed by a national action plan," he said. "That plan is surrounding, identifying and prioritizing all the National Heritage Area resources within that region that best tell that regional story.

"I know personally having visited Bronzeville that (its story) is a very rich and very significant story that needs to be told."

The neighborhood has roots deeply embedded in local and national history.

It's where restrictive covenants legally kept blacks from moving elsewhere in the city until 1955, and where music evolved and merged as the Southern blues met the electric guitar and New Orleans jazz met swing.

Today, many of Bronzeville's jewels are eroding, and residents and leaders fear the community and other urban centers throughout the country are being targeted for gentrification by the white middle class.

Harold Lucas, president of the Bronzeville Information Center and a board member of the Black Metropolis Heritage Area project, sees a National Heritage Area designation as an opportunity for younger resident to become a part of that history and help preserve it.

"It gives our students an academic reference where they can put themselves into the timeline to understand the sociological and anthropological struggle that our community went through," Lucas said.

The process of becoming a National Heritage Area can take months or years, and four main requirements must be met: a feasibility study, incorporation of public involvement, a demonstration of public and private sector support, and cooperation with government, industry and philanthropic organizations.

According to a report from Lucas' organization, over the last 20 years just 37 of 150 proposed communities received National Heritage Area designations. This year, bills for six more communities are pending. Cosgrove characterized the process as "a marathon and not a sprint."

"With so many other things, there are many other legislative priorities that can slow or advance the bill's designation," he said.