Congressman Bobby L. Rush has spent most of his life fighting for everyday people. He believes that the constitutional promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all Americans must be upheld to make our nation strong. He has represented the First Congressional District of Illinois for almost two decades.
Rush’s life story is truly an American story. He was born in Albany, Georgia on November 23, 1946. It was a time of terror and random violence against African-Americans living in the south. Eight months after Rush’s birth, historians report that a white mob tied two black couples to a tree and killed them in a hail of gunfire. It happened in a rural Georgia county north of Rush’s birthplace. The brutal murders, known as The Moore’s Ford Bridge Case, led President Harry Truman to push for sweeping civil rights changes and the desegregation of the military. It was the last documented mass lynching in the United States. The nation was on the cusp of change.
But Rush’s family could not wait so they joined the great African-American migration and moved north to Chicago. At the time, most of American society held no expectation that the son of a single mother, growing up on Chicago’s west side, would someday become a powerful national and international leader. But Bobby Rush didn’t know that.
His mother and teachers at Marshall High School told him that with hard work he could rise to the level of his limitless imagination. The American Civil Rights Movement, that began shortly after he was born, would reach its zenith with the passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was 18 years old. This struggle to fulfill the constitutional promise of equality for all would define Rush and his life’s work. The fight for human rights, in America and throughout the world, remains Rush’s mission. Public service through elected office is one of the many paths he has chosen with that mission in mind. For the past 18 years, Rush’s passion for helping people and solving their problems, has been reflected in every aspect of his work in the Congress of the United States.
Chicago and her surrounding communities are a microcosm of America. And, while large parts of his district includes communities that can boast world class health and educational institutions and a diverse array of businesses, there are others where youth unemployment and acts of violence are far too common. Rush is an honorably discharged Army veteran and an ordained minister with a Master’s Degree in Theology. In addition to his congressional responsibilities, Rush is the pastor of the Beloved Community Christian Church of Chicago. Rush listens to his constituents with a pastor’s ear and acts on their needs with a politician’s skill.
He and his wife of 31 years, Carolyn, have a blended family with six children including a son who lost his life to gun violence in 1999.
U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush is a transcendent American leader who keeps his legislative and policy interests sharply focused on the needs of his constituents — especially the most vulnerable. He believes in the redemptive power of the human spirit. He believes in human ingenuity and tenacity. He knows the power of a made up mind. As a member of Congress, Rush stands on the shoulders of a long line of patriots and public servants who have gone before him and who are ardent believers in our Constitution. His life is an example of our nation’s fundamental promise and his work reflects a deep determination to bend the arc of government resources and innovation towards the needs of every American — whether they live on our nation’s main streets or its side streets.
