On this day in 1871, Oscar Stanton De Priest, the first African-American elected to Congress in the post-Reconstruction era, was born in Florence, Ala., to former slaves.
De Priest moved north, settling in Chicago. He built his fortune in the stock market and real estate, helping black families move into once all-white neighborhoods.
De Priest rose through Republican Party ranks to become Chicago’s first black alderman. When Rep. Martin Madden (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, died in April 1928, De Priest, with the backing of Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson, became the GOP nominee to succeed him.
“I’ve been elected to Congress the same as any other member,” De Priest said after narrowly winning election. “I’m going to have the rights of every other congressman — no more and no less — if it’s in the congressional barber shop or at a White House tea.”
As the only African-American in Congress during his three terms, De Priest discovered that he represented not only his Chicago district but also blacks throughout the nation.
De Priest made little headway in Congress in his efforts to promote civil rights — including his challenge to the informal codes that banned him from using the Capitol facilities reserved for white members.
Still, De Priest served as a beacon of hope for African-Americans, paving the way for future black lawmakers. Ultimately, De Priest’s inability to offer economic relief to his constituents during the Great Depression, and their shift to the Democratic Party during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, denied him a fourth term. He lost to Arthur Mitchell, another African-American, in November 1934.
De Priest died in Chicago in 1951.
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34077.html#ixzz0hgwu6Hsy
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