After his time in the military, Burgess moved to Champaign to attend the University of Illinois College of Law.
He was the county's sole Democratic countywide officeholder[3] and the first African-American elected a State's Attorney in Illinois.
[1] Burgess lost the 1976 general election to Republican Thomas Difanis.
[2] In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Burgess the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Illinois to succeed the late Henry A.
[2] In 2014, the post office in Champaign, Illinois was named in honor of Burgess.