Harold Washington

Bertha remarried and had seven more children, including Ramon Price, who was an artist and eventually became chief curator of The DuSable Museum of African American History.

Harold Washington grew up in Bronzeville, a Chicago neighborhood that was the center of black culture for the entire Midwest in the early and middle 20th century.

[9][10] After high school, Washington worked at a meatpacking plant for a time before his father helped him get a job at the U.S. Treasury branch in the city.

[11] He chaired a fund-raising drive by students, and then was named to a committee that supported citywide efforts to outlaw "restrictive covenants" in housing, the legal means by which ethnic minorities (especially blacks and, to a lesser extent, Jews) were prohibited from purchasing real estate in predominantly white neighborhoods of the city.

Washington intentionally avoided extremist activities, including street actions and sit-ins against racially segregated restaurants and businesses.

He would not marry again, but continued to have relationships with other women; his longtime secretary is said to have said, "If every woman Harold slept with stood at one end of City Hall, the building would sink five inches into LaSalle Street!".

"[23] In 1959 Al Janney, Gus Savage, Lemuel Bentley, Bennett Johnson, Luster Jackson and others founded the Chicago League of Negro Voters, one of the first African-American political organizations in the city.

In 1963 the group moved to racially integrate and formed Protest at the Polls at a citywide conference which Washington independent candidates had gained traction within the black community, winning several aldermanic seats.

Soon after the creation of the group, Robinson was written up for minor infractions, suspended, reinstated, and then placed on the graveyard shift on a single block behind central police headquarters.

Robinson approached Washington and asked him to fashion a bill which would authorize the creation of a civilian review board, consisting of both patrolmen and officers, to monitor police brutality.

Both black independent and white liberal legislators refused to back the bill, afraid to challenge Daley's grip on the police force.

In exchange for the party's backing, Washington would serve on the Chicago Crime Commission, the group Daley tasked with investigating the AAPL's charges.

Like his time in Roosevelt College, Washington relied on parliamentary tactics (e.g., writing amendments guaranteed to fail in a vote) to enable him to bargain for more concessions.

He also passed a resolution in honor of James J. Reeb, a Unitarian minister who was beaten to death by a segregationist mob in Selma, Alabama.

[34] In addition to Daley's strong-arm tactics, Washington's time in the Illinois House was also marred by problems with tax returns and allegations of not performing services owed to his clients.

In 1970, the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association ruled that Washington's license be suspended for only one year, not the five recommended; the total amount in question between all six clients was $205.

Judge Sam Perry noted that he was "disturbed that this case ever made it to my courtroom"—while Washington had paid his taxes, he ended up owing the government a total of $508 as a result of not filing his returns.

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.

In 1979, during the early stages of his second term and immediately in the aftermath of the largest vote for a gubernatorial candidate in the state's history, Thompson called for human rights reorganization.

Although he had been called "crazy" for railing in the House of Representatives against deep cuts to social programs, Associated Press political reporter Mike Robinson noted that Washington worked "quietly and thoughtfully" as the time came to pass the act.

Cook County Assessor Thomas Hynes (Chicago First Party), a Daley ally, dropped out of the race 36 hours before the mayoral general election.

[54] PEP used its political connections to support candidates such as Luis Gutiérrez and Jesús "Chuy" García through field operations, voter registration and Election Day poll monitoring.

Due to PEP's efforts, Washington's City Council legislation gained ground and his popularity grew as the 1987 mayoral election approached.

[59] Washington, during his mayorship, announced a plan to redevelop a commercial site into a DuSable Park, named in honor of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the honorary founder of the city.

[61] A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Washington as the nineteenth-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.

Initial reactions to the pronouncement of his death were of shock and sadness, as many black people believed that Washington was the only top Chicago official who would address their concerns.

[67][68] Following his death, President Ronald Reagan issued a statement calling Washington a "dedicated and outspoken leader who guided one of our nation's largest cities through the 1980's".

[70] On November 30, 1987, Reverend B. Herbert Martin officiated Washington's funeral service in Christ Universal Temple at 119th Street and Ashland Avenue in Chicago.

At a party held shortly after his re-election on April 7, 1987, Washington said to a group of supporters, "In the old days, when you told people in other countries that you were from Chicago, they would say, 'Boom-boom!

Nelson, assisted by the ACLU, filed a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming that the painting's confiscation and subsequent damaging violated his First Amendment rights.

Washington holds a press conference for his 1983 campaign at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on December 13, 1982.
Harold Washington speaking at the commissioning of USS Chicago (SSN-721) , September 1986.
Washington mausoleum at Oak Woods Cemetery