Tony Rhoden Photographs of Eugene Sawyer

Abstract

African American photographer Herman Santonio “Tony” Rhoden worked for the U.S. Navy and the Chicago Defender newspaper before opening his own photography business. Eugene Sawyer worked for the City of Chicago Department of Water Management before becoming 6th Ward Alderman, 1971-1987, and ultimately being appointed Acting Mayor of Chicago following Mayor Harold Washington’s sudden death in 1987. The photographs in this small collection were taken by Tony Rhoden and feature events attended and headlined by then Alderman Eugene Sawyer.

Biographical/Historical

Herman Santonio “Tony” Rhoden was a photojournalist working in Chicago. He was the first Black photographer for the U.S. Navy, beginning his career there in 1943. He then joined the staff of the Chicago Defender newspaper in 1946. He opened Rhoden Photo Press Service in 1955. Later, he would serve as Mayor Richard J. Daley’s first African American photographer and as chief photographer for Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. Rhoden passed away in 1991 at the age of 70.

Eugene Sawyer was born in Alabama in 1934, grew up visiting family in Chicago and permanently relocated there in 1957. Sawyer became involved with the 6th Ward Regular Democratic Organization and the Young Democrats. In 1959, Sawyer took a job in Chicago’s Department of Water Management, and in 1968 began serving as 6th Ward Committeeman. In 1971, he was elected 6th Ward Alderman, where he would serve until 1987.

Upon the sudden death of Harold Washington on November 25, 1987, the City Council ultimately appointed Sawyer as Acting Mayor. Sawyer mounted a campaign for Mayor in the 1989 special election but lost to Cook County State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley.

After his brief time as Acting Mayor, Sawyer retired from politics and entered private business. Sawyer died on January 19, 2008. In 2016, in honor of his beginnings in government in the Department of Water Management and his later contributions to the City, the South Water Purification Plant at 3300 East Cheltenham Place near Rainbow Beach was renamed the Eugene Sawyer Water Purification Plant.

Scope and Contents

The 169 photographs collected here were taken by Tony Rhoden and feature events attended and headlined by Alderman Eugene Sawyer. Also in attendance at several of the events were Mayor Michael Bilandic and his wife Heather Morgan Bilandic; Sawyer’s own wife, Eleanor Taylor Sawyer; and Roland Burris. Other figures involved in Chicago politics in the late 1970s are also featured. While many events are unidentified, some are clearly related to the 6th Ward, for which Sawyer served as Alderman and which encompasses Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood. Other pictured events were sponsored by the Chatham Park Manor Citizens on Patrol, a neighborhood organization. Most of the images are black and white, 8” x 10” prints, with Rhoden’s photographer stamp on the back. Four images, however, are 3.5” x 5” color snapshots that feature Eugene Sawyer with Harold Washington. Because these snapshots are undated, it is unclear whether Washington is yet mayor in these images, or if they date from the same era as the rest of the collection’s photos, before Washington was elected mayor.

Arrangement

Photographs are arranged chronologically, with undated items coming at the end, under an estimated date range.

Related Materials

• City of Chicago Graphics and Reproduction Center Photographs
• Eugene Sawyer Mayoral Records
• Chicago Department of Urban Renewal Records
• Theodore Charles Stone Papers
• Harold Washington Archives and Collections. Mayoral Records. Press Office Photographs
• Harold Washington Archives and Collections. Pre-Mayoral Photograph Collection

Subject Terms

• Bilandic, Heather Morgan
• Bilandic, Michael A. (Michael Anthony), 1923-2002
• Burris, Roland W.
• Chatham (Chicago, Ill.)
• Chicago (Ill.) -- Politics and government – Photographs
• Rhoden, Tony (Herman Santonio), -1991
• Sawyer, Eleanor Taylor
• Sawyer, Eugene
• Washington, Harold, 1922-1987

Collection Inventory