Fire on the Prairie: Harold Washington, Chicago Politics, and the Roots of the Obama Presidency

Chicago--a name synonymous with tough urban politics and racial conflict. In 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., set the nation's sights on the city when he said, If we crack Chicago, then we crack the world. Black empowerment would take off like a prairie fire across the land. Here is the story of Harold Washington's election in 1983 as the city's first black mayor. Photographs.