Harold Washington and the Black Urban Regime

Abstract

Although commentators on the mayoral administration of Chicago's Harold Washington have typically described either a progressive-city government or a black machine, a third approach to characterizing Washington's political coalition and administrative program is offered by the black-urban-regime metaphor. By examining the Washington administration as a black urban regime, one can specify how local factors constrained the policymaking of Chicago's first African-American mayor and can identify lessons from the Washington experience applicable to minority municipal administrations in other U.S. cities.