Harold Washington was Chicago’s first black mayor. He won this historic election on April 12 1983, by a narrow margin. Washington abandoned an outwardly safe congressional seat after winning a second term in the U.S. House in order to run for mayor of Chicago, and he made history when he became the first African American to hold the influential elective position.
Born into and raised in a political family, Harold Washington converted his early access to prominent lawmakers and the local government structure into a memorable career as a Chicago politician. Harold Washington attended Forrestville School and DuSable High School in Chicago before dropping out between his junior and senior year.
His diploma was awarded after his military service. He enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939. He worked in a meat–packing plant and the U.S. Treasury before being drafted into the military in 1942. Washington served with the U.S. Air Force Engineers in the Pacific until 1946.
During World War II, Washington served in the 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion, rising to the rank of first sergeant. Among other honors, Washington received the American Campaign Medal and was honorably discharged in 1946.
After World War II, he attended Roosevelt University in Chicago, one of the few integrated universities in the nation. During his senior year at Roosevelt University, he was class president. This was the first elective position of his career.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in political science in 1949, he went on to receive a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Northwestern University’s School of Law in 1952. He joined his father in a private law practice in Chicago after passing the bar in 1953.
What he learned during his Roosevelt College years helped him become a successful politician. Washington came to be known for his stability, his “remarkable ability to keep cool” and his ability to reason carefully and walk a middle line. Washington intentionally avoided extremist activities, including street actions and sit-ins against racially segregated restaurants and businesses. However, Washington and radical activists shared a mutual respect for each other, acknowledging both Washington’s pragmatism and the activists’ idealism.
Washington began serving as an assistant city prosecutor in Chicago in 1954. He became precinct captain in the 3rd Ward in 1954. He began working as arbitrator for the Illinois Industrial Commission in 1960. He served as state representative in the Illinois Legislature (1965-1977), Illinois state representative (1965-1977), Illinois state senator (1977-1981) and served in U.S. Congress, (1981-1983). He led the movement for Illinois’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday bill.
In the Illinois Senate, Washington’s main focus was to pass the 1980 Illinois Human Rights Act. Legislators rewrote all of the human rights laws in the state, restricting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, or unfavorable discharge from military service in connection with employment, real estate transactions, access to financial credit, and the availability of public accommodations. On May 24, 1979, the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 59 to 1.
REFERENCES
1. Mayor Harold Washington Biography
Source: Harold Washington Archives & Collections.
2. Harold Washington
Former Mayor of Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Washington
3. Mayor of Chicago, 1983-1987 https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/harold-washington
Achieving the Dream: Harold Washington