Counting results of the primary election for mayor of Bronzeville, April 21, 1939. The original caption identifies nine tabulators, but the photo shows only eight. Names given in caption, left to right: Orville Wheatley, Lester Holman, Abraham Sellers, Kenneth Barton, Marlowe Nichols, O. Jerome Singleton, G. Smith (woman in dark dress; her full first name was not given), Mable Pettiford, Dean Chandler (Courtesy State Journal-Register)
The 1939 election for “mayor of Bronzeville” was designed to “encourage good sportsmanship and develop leadership among the young colored male residents” of Springfield, organizers said.
The election was purely a popularity contest. The winners – the mayor and four commissioners, mirroring Springfield’s municipal governing system at the time – had no official status or duties.
The stated sponsors were the Douglass Community Center, which offered education and recreation opportunities to African-Americans in segregated Springfield, and the Chicago Defender, probably the nation’s most popular Black newspaper. The main promoter, however, seems to have been Douglass Center director O. Jerome Singleton.
Sixteen men entered the competition, which was open only to Black men between the ages of 18 and 35. (Women were eligible for a separate contest, “Queen of Bronzeville.” The results of that weren’t reported in local newspapers.)
The contest carried some of the trappings of an official election. A primary election that concluded April 21 winnowed the original 16 candidates to 10; the general election was held June 2. Candidates presented their credentials at forums and rallies.
However, voters cast ballots in the primary using coupons distributed at churches, social and fraternal groups and Black-owned businesses. One batch of coupons was even dropped from an airplane.
The contest gained legitimacy from its sponsorship by the Douglass Center, which was funded by Springfield city government. Springfield’s official mayor, John “Buddy” Kapp, also endorsed the Bronzeville vote, calling it a “worthy movement.” In a condescending statement typical of white attitudes at the time, Kapp said he thought the election “will teach these fine young men and women some of the fundamentals of government.”
Some more aggressive candidates did publicity events. For instance, an Illinois State Journal photo March 29 showed Harlan Watson buying the first poppy sold to benefit the United Spanish War Veterans Auxiliary. The photo caption called Watson “one of the leading candidates for mayor of Bronzeville;” he did end up winning the contest.
Voting in the primary election lasted six weeks and, because of the coupon methodology, resulted in vote totals far exceeding the number of Black people in Springfield. Watson led the primary field with 22,677 votes, nearly matched by Harold Greenwood’s 22,429. The other eight primary winners, in the order they finished, were Leo “Hicks” Hickman, Simeon Osby Jr., Raymond Grives, Craven Buchanan, Eugene Woodson, Ivan Harper, Albert Williams and Hubert Jackson.
By contrast, results of the June2 general election, which involved in-person voting at three district polling places, elected Watson as mayor with 475 votes. The four men elected Bronzeville commissioners were Woodson, 346 votes; Greenwood, 234; Hickman, 137; and Buchanan, 116.
An inauguration ceremony was planned, but if one was held, it didn’t receive newspaper coverage.
Harlan Watson
Harlan Watson, 1969, when he ran unsuccessfully for delegate to the 1970 state constitional convention (SJ-R)
The political skills Harlan Watson demonstrated in the Bronzeville election may have paid off. A week after his mayoral victory, Watson was named head lifeguard at Bridgeview Beach, the Lake Springfield beach open to African-Americans. The job was a patronage position.
However, another alleged attempt to take advantage of his mayoralty put Watson in legal trouble. In July, Watson got into a fight with a promoter of a Negro Progress Exhibition scheduled held at the Black Masonic lodge, 119 N. Eighth St. The promoter, W.L. Tasker, said Watson, as “mayor of Bronzeville,” demanded $50 for a permit to stage the show. When he refused, Tasker said, Watson hit him.
Watson was charged with assault; it isn’t clear if the case ever went to court.
Watson (1908-1982) would go on to a controversial career as a Springfield police officer and politician. He reached the height of his influence in the 1950s, when Watson was considered Mayor Nelson Howarth’s top ally in the Black community. One of Howarth’s priorities was to abolish racial discrimination in city services, leading, among other things, to the shutdown of the Douglass Center.
Watson’s 1939 honor was at least partly a reflection of his already growing reputation in the Black community. An outstanding athlete as a young man, he had been active in African-American organizations and political circles in generalbefore the Bronzeville election.
Over several more decades in politics, Watson served as a precinct committeeman for both the Democratic and Republican parties and held a number of patronage jobs. Two different State Journal-Register columnists, Al Manning and Ken Watson (no relation), called Harlan Watson “one of the most colorful politicians in Springfield.”
Watson served as a city police officer from 1942 until 1969. In 1951, he was one of three officers who stormed the roof of the Horn Hotel, Eighth and Washington streets, to subdue gunman Raymond Waterfield, who had been shooting randomly at passersby on the streets below.
Watson is buried in an unmarked grave at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
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