Harold Washington's historic mayoral inauguration celebrated in Chicago 30 years later
theGRIO REPORT - As Chicagoans mark the 30th anniversary of its first African-American mayor Harold Washington’s inauguration on April 29, the effects of his rule and the movement that put him in office could still be felt across the country...
CHICAGO – As Chicagoans marked the 30th anniversary of its first African-American mayor, Harold Washington’s, inauguration on April 29, the effects of his rule and the movement that put him in office could still be felt across the country, although rarely celebrated or vaguely remembered on the façades of buildings in the city.
The son of a lawyer and Chicago precinct captain, Washington was essentially born into local politics. But even operating in a political climate harshly adverse to him, he had a strong commitment to fairness and affecting change for the good of all Chicagoans, from the inside out.
Before becoming mayor, Washington served in the Illinois legislature as a congressman and senator. After he unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 1977, a group of community organizers who were upset with the rule of then-mayor Jane Byrne asked him to run in 1983. He did so under two conditions: that the group registered 50,000 African-Americans to vote and raised $250,000 for his campaign.
All ethnic groups involved
“It was the first thing Chicago had ever seen like that before. You had all ethnic groups involved,” said Josie Childs, who worked within Washington’s campaign, administration and now leads a local campaign commemorating Washington’s legacy.
The grassroots effort registered more than 100,000 black voters and raised about half a million dollars for Washington’s campaign, “so it almost put Harold in a position that he couldn’t say no,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was part of both of Washington’s campaigns for mayor.
Robert T. Starks, emeritus professor of political science and inner city studies at Northeastern Illinois University notes that now-President “Barack Obama admits that he was inspired to come to Chicago as a result of Harold Washington’s victory, and he came and became a community organizer out in Roseland as a result of the Washington victory.”
Starks is also the chairman of the task force of Black Political Empowerment formed in 1983, when Washington announced that he was running for mayor. According to him, that time instilled a sense of pride into Chicagoans that carried across the United States.
Harold Washington’s blueprint for victory
“A lot of people around the country saw what he did and duplicated it, because this was the most entrenched political machine in the country. Anybody who wanted to run for anything had to bow down to Richard J. Daley. And for Harold to come along and bust that machine open and became a winner was a miracle,” Starks said.
Jackson describes the “political machine,” way Chicago politics ran then after years of control under Mayor Richard J. Daley and Byrne, as a “system that put control and order over creativity and growth.” He recalls, “You could not be a (voting) judge unless a committeeman recommended you. You could not be a police sergeant or captain unless you were politically connected to that machine,” Jackson said. By winning the mayoral race in 1983, Jackson said Washington “broke up machine control. That was a big systemic blow.”
But actually gaining control took time. When Washington was elected, a group of 29 City Council members, the majority, blocked nearly every proposal he presented, but years in, he was able to gain control of the council by “servicing his adversaries,” Jackson said.
