"R. S. Horton, wife
and daughter. Proprietor Hattiesburg Barber Shop 35th st near Rhodes. Came
to Chicago in January 1917. For 19 years he had been awaiting what he would
regard the right time to move. 19 years ago he had occasion to learn something
of the North thru a brother who came up and wrote back. His particular
interest and grievance was in politics. It was not so much that he couldn't
vote there that made him “mad” but the fact that colored people not only
could vote in the North, but in Chicago could elect whom they wished."
( Charles S. Johnson, “Chicago Study, Migration Interviews,” 1917)
Blacks relished the freedom to vote, as told to Charles Johnson of the Chicago Urban League in his interviews of migrants . That freedom did result in the election of black officials such as Oscar DePriest, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1921. The presence of black political organizations such as the People's Movement Club and a branch of the NAACP also signified their new freedom. Another source of great pride in the Chicago black community was their vote providing the margin of victory in the 1919 general election for Mayor William Thompson (176 Grossman).
“The Negro in Chicago,
as in every other part of America, is fighting for the fundamental rights
of
citizenship. If a candidate
for office is wrong on every other public question except this, the Negroes
are going to vote for
that man, for that is their only way of securing the things they want and
that are
denied them.”
"The value of the Negro
vote to Thompson can be seen in a glance at the recent election figures.
His plurality was 28,000 votes. In the second ward it was 14,000 and in
the third 10,000. The second and third wards constitute most of what is
known as the “Black Belt.”
("Chicago and Its Eight Reasons": Walter White Considers the Causes
of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot)
Although, Thompson's reign did little for black advance, he appointed blacks to city jobs and black politician Louis B. Anderson was his floor leader in the City Council (177 Grossman). The presence of black elected officials, the significance of the black vote in electing a mayor, and the presence of blacks in city hall gave migrants a new sense of pride and participation that they could not experience in the South.