Harold Washington was an American politician who served as the first African-American mayor of Chicago. He was elected to the City Council in 1955, president of the Chicago City Council in 1957, and mayor of Chicago in 1983, succeeding Mayor Jane Byrne. Washington's election ended a fifty-year era of Democratic Party rule in Chicago. His tenure as mayor included an economic downturn for the city, but it also saw the revival of the city's downtown area and the construction of numerous cultural facilities, including Millennium Park.
Business as usual will not be accepted by any part of this city.Harold Washington
Throughout American history many of our social gains and much of our progress toward democracy were made possible by the active intervention of the federal government.Harold Washington
