Washington, Harold

Impact on the world

Won election as Chicago's first Black mayor in 1983 after building a multiracial coalition and overseeing the registration of more than 50,000 new Black voters, defeating two white opponents who split the vote in a campaign marked by open racial hostility; his administration broke the grip of Chicago's longtime Democratic political machine and directly inspired a young community organizer named Barack Obama.

Life & background

The son of a Chicago precinct captain, Washington served in the Illinois House and Senate before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, where his major legislative achievement was extending the Voting Rights Act against opposition seeking to weaken it. After an unsuccessful 1977 mayoral bid in which he likened Chicago's Black population to a 'sleeping giant,' he ran again in 1983 on the condition that organizers could deliver both significant funding and a major new voter registration drive; with over 50,000 newly registered Black voters, he won a narrow Democratic primary victory by splitting the white vote between two opponents, then defeated Republican Bernard Epton, whose campaign slogan, 'Epton, before it's too late,' was widely understood as a racial dog whistle. His first term was dominated by what became known as the 'Council Wars,' in which a 29-alderman bloc blocked most of his legislative agenda, but his 1987 reelection finally secured him a supportive city council before he died of a heart attack just seven months into his second term. Multiple Chicago landmarks, including the central branch of the Chicago Public Library, bear his name, and his multiracial coalition-building approach was a direct influence on Barack Obama's own political career in the city.

Sources

1. Chicago Public Library; DuSable Black History Museum; WTTW Chicago; U.S. House of Representatives History, Art & Archives