Harold Washington Archvies and Collections, Pre-Mayoral Records, U.S. Congressional Records

Harold Washington (1922-1987) served the 1st Congressional District of Illinois during the 97th and 98th Congresses. Having won the Democratic primary election in March 1980, Washington carried the general election on November 4, 1980. He was sworn in on January 5, 1981. In November 1982 he was re-elected to a second term, and served until his inauguration as Mayor of Chicago on April 29, 1983.

Washington's congressional office in Washington, D.C. ("D.C. Office") was headed by Administrative Assistant William Ware. Samuel Patch served as District Administrator of the First District Office in Chicago ("District Office"). Records generated by these two offices were not always clearly identified, and Washington worked from both offices.

As Congressman, Harold Washington was a member of three congressional committees: Education and Labor; Government Operations; and Judiciary. Washington was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the House Democratic Study Group, the Congressional Steel Caucus, and the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.

Harold Washington was particularly concerned about civil rights and voting rights; criminal justice reform; the reduction of defense spending to benefit domestic health, education and welfare programs; and affirmative action. Best known for his active support of the extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, he also pushed for the allocation of Title I funds on the basis of the 1980 Census. His foreign policy interests included Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Harold Washington was the first African American mayor of Chicago, elected in 1983.

Harold Washington was born on April 15, 1922, at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. His parents, Roy Lee and Bertha Jones Washington, divorced when he was young, and he lived with his father in Chicago and attended boarding school in Milwaukee. Washington entered Chicago’s DuSable High School in 1939, served in the Civilian Conservation Corps for six months, enlisted in the military from 1943 to 1946 and returned to DuSable High School to graduate in 1946. After earning a bachelor degree at Roosevelt University in Chicago and a law degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., Washington enjoyed a career as a practicing attorney before he turned to politics.

Washington’s political career encompassed roles at the municipal, state and national levels of government. He served as Illinois State Representative for the 26th District from 1965 to 1976. He then became Illinois State Senator for the 26th District from 1976 to 1980. Washington ran for mayor of Chicago in 1977, but lost. In 1980, he became a U.S. Congressman for the 1st District and served in that post until 1983. Washington again ran for mayor in 1983, winning the Democratic primary election in February of that year and the general election in April. He was inaugurated on April 29, 1983 and was re-elected in 1987. Harold Washington died at 1:36 PM on November 25, 1987 of a cardiac arrest, just a few months into his second term as mayor. He is buried in Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery.