An African-American Woman, the First in the history of Chicago, a city where minorities are in the majority and one-third of the population is black. The election is not until Tuesday, April 2nd, but the two candidates who are in the run-off are both African American Women, so the outcome is assured. The winner will not be the First Woman mayor of Chicago. That was Jane Byrne in 1979, when few women had been mayors of major-size cities.
The two final candidates are Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle.
Lori Lightfoot’s parents worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, but her mother pushed her to attend college and not let her background stand in her way. She graduated from the University of Michigan with honors and worked as a legislative aide for two years in Washington, D.C. She returned to her hometown to attend the University of Chicago Law School. While there, she led a movement to have a law firm banned from campus recruitment because their representative had made racist and sexist remarks directed toward a student.
She clerked at the Michigan Supreme Court and became an Assistant United States Attorney. During her time at Assistant Attorney she participated in Operation Silver Shovel, an FBI investigation into Chicago corruption. She chaired the Police Accountability Task Force and is President of the Chicago Police Board.
Toni Preckwinkle got her first taste of politics while in high school, volunteering for Katie McWatt, the first African American woman to run for Chicago City Council. She obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago then taught history for ten years, losing one of her students to gun violence. She has campaigned for handgun legislation and has taken strong stances against police brutality.
She served as an Alderman on the Chicago City Council for twenty years. In 2010 she became the First African American Woman to serve as Cook County Board President, managing the second-largest county in the United States. She is also chair of the Cook County Democratic Party.
Stay tuned. . .
