Oscar Stanton De Priest

Oscar De Priest
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1929 – January 3, 1935
Preceded byMartin B. Madden
Succeeded byArthur W. Mitchell
Member of the Chicago City Council
In office
1943–1947
Preceded byBenjaim A. Grant
Succeeded byArchibald Carey Jr.
Constituency3rd Ward
In office
1915–1917
Succeeded byLouis Anderson
Constituency2nd Ward
Member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
In office
1904–1908
Preceded byArchibald Carey Jr.
Personal details
Born(1871-03-09)March 9, 1871
Florence, Alabama, U.S.
DiedMay 12, 1951(1951-05-12) (aged 80)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting placeGraceland Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
(m. 1898)
Children2

Oscar Stanton De Priest (March 9, 1871 – May 12, 1951) was an American politician and civil rights advocate from Chicago. A member of the Illinois Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois's 1st congressional district from 1929 to 1935. He was the first African American to be elected to Congress in the 20th century. During his three terms, he was the only African American serving in Congress. He was also the first African-American U.S. Representative from outside the southern states.

Born in Alabama to freedmen parents, De Priest was raised in Dayton, Ohio. He studied business and made a fortune in Chicago as a contractor, and in real estate and the stock market before the Crash. A successful local politician, he was elected an alderman to the Chicago City Council in 1914, the first African American to hold that office.

In Congress in the early 1930s, he spoke out against racial discrimination, including at speaking events in the South; tried to integrate the House public restaurant; gained passage of an amendment to desegregate the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the work programs under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal; and introduced anti-lynching legislation to the House (it was not passed because of the Solid South Democratic opposition).[1] In 1934, De Priest was defeated by Arthur W. Mitchell, the first African American to be elected as a Democrat to Congress. De Priest returned to Chicago and his successful business ventures, eventually returning to politics, when he was again elected an alderman in the 1940s.[1]

  1. ^ a b De Priest, Oscar Stanton. US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. Retrieved January 29, 2022.