Black Migration Builds Northern Political Power; Chicago Elects Oscar De Priest

On November 6, 1928, Oscar De Priest became the first Black congressman elected from a Northern state, representing Chicago's South Side Black Belt. His election reflected the political transformation wrought by the Great Migration: Black voters concentrated in Northern cities could register and vote, and their numbers had grown large enough to elect Black representatives. De Priest's election, and his persistent use of congressional privileges to challenge segregation in Washington, D.C., demonstrated that the Great Migration was not only an economic and demographic event but a political realignment that would ultimately reshape American politics.