Harold Washington
Politician
American lawyer and politician who became the first African American mayor of Chicago, Illinois in 1983. He also served in the US House of Representatives, the Illinois Senate, and the Illinois House of Representatives during his long political career.
He was a First Sergeant in the Air Force during World War II, spending much of his time fighting in a segregated unit in the Philipines.
He defeated the first female mayor of Chicago, Jane Byrne, to become the first African American mayor of Chicago.
He married Nancy Finch in 1942.
He ran against future mayor Richard M. Daley during the 1983 Democratic primaries in Chicago.