New Limited Edition Series Will Chronicle The Life And Times Of Harold Washington

Soon there will be a new docu-series about the life and career of Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington.

The story will be told by Fosse/Verdon writer Ike Holter under Paylocity founder Steve Sarowitz and Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios.

The limited series will be based on the 1992 book Fire on the Prairie, written by Gary Rivilin.

Per Deadline:

“In a move that echoes Stacey Abrams’ work in Georgia, Washington was able to win the Democratic mayoral primary by registering hundreds of thousands of new voters, including a coalition with Latino reformed gang Young Lords. This multiracial coalition helped replace a political machine put in place by former mayor Richard Daley and [Washington] beat incumbent mayor Jane Byrne and future mayor and son of Richard Daley, Richard J. Daley. Washington, who was besieged by issues including his tax affairs, was mayor between 1983 and 1987, when he died in office.

There would likely have been no President Obama without Washington as mayor, with Obama saying that he originally moved to Chicago “in part because of the inspiration of Mayor Washington’s campaign.”

Source:

TheRoot