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African American Oscar De Priest in 1928...
African American Oscar De Priest in 1928...
Item # 724300
May 28, 1928
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE, May 2, 1928
* Oscar De Priest runs as a Republican (ballot)
* Chicago, Illinois's 1st Congressional District
* First African American Congressman (20th century)
The front page has a one column heading: "DE PRIEST PUT ON BALLOT FOR MADDEN PLACE" with subhead. And a photo of him on the back page with heading. (see images) He would become the 1st African American elected to Congress in the 20th century. Probably only reported in a Chicago publication, extremely rare as such.
Complete with 46 pages, rag edition in great condition.
background: On May 1, 1928, Oscar De Priest was placed on the Republican primary ballot in Chicago for Illinois’s 1st Congressional District following the death of incumbent Congressman Martin B. Madden, marking a pivotal moment in both Chicago and national politics. A prominent South Side businessman and former Chicago alderman, De Priest benefited from the rapid growth of the city’s African American population during the Great Migration, which had significantly increased Black political influence in the district and within the local Republican Party organization. Running in a predominantly Republican district at a time when many African Americans still identified with the party of Lincoln, he secured the nomination and went on to win the general election in November 1928, becoming the first African American elected to the U.S. Congress in the 20th century and the first Black representative from a Northern state, serving three terms from 1929 to 1935 and using his position to challenge segregation and advocate for civil rights legislation.
Category: The 20th Century
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