Chicago Divided: The Making of a Black Mayor

In April 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. His victory came at the end of a rancorous campaign that attracted national media coverage and left Chicago "a city divided against itself." Chicago Divided sensitively reconstructs the developments that led to Chicago's 1983 political season. Investigating the election and its background, Kleppner taps a formidable array of sources—including newspapers, court cases, public opinion polls, and voting returns—to analyze the causes and consequences of Chicago's electoral revolution.

"An important and provocative book that chronicles the history of black empowerment in the city of Chicago and the sumultaneous defeat of the last great urban political machine.... The dramatic nature of events that culminated in Washington's victory are carefully unfolded by Kleppner so that this political history reads like an exciting novel."—Political Science Quarterly

"A significant contribution to the study of the growth of black urban political power in recent decades."—New York Times Book Review

In April 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. His victory came at the end of a rancorous campaign that attracted national media coverage and left Chicago "a city divided against itself." Chicago Divided sensitively reconstructs the developments that led to Chicago's 1983 political season. Investigating the election and its background, Kleppner taps a formidable array of sources—including newspapers, court cases, public opinion polls, and voting returns—to analyze the causes and consequences of Chicago's electoral revolution.