Chicago Elects Oscar De Priest: First Black Northern Congressman

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 in numbers large enough to elect Black representatives. De Priest's persistent use of congressional privileges to challenge segregation in Washington, D.C. demonstrated that the Great Migration was not only economic but a political realignment reshaping American politics.