Savage, Gus, 1925-2015

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Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was an entrepreneur, publisher and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.

Savage was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946 and then worked as a journalist from 1954 to 1979, owning a chain of weekly community newspapers in the Chicago area including the South End Citizen. The Chicago Citizen Newspaper Group became the largest Black-owned chain of weekly newspapers in the Midwest with a circulation of 121,000.

Savage entered political life in 1948 as a Progressive Party organizer. He challenged the local establishment's chosen candidates for the House of Representatives in 1968 and 1970, losing the Democratic primary both times, but won election to the House in 1980, representing the 2nd District on Chicago's South Side for 6 terms, from January 1981 to January 1993.

Savage died on October 31, 2015, one day after his 90th birthday.

Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf The HistoryMakers Video Oral History with The Honorable Gus Savage The HistoryMakers
Relation Name
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Chicago-Kent College of Law corporateBody
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America. corporateBody
memberOf Congressional Black Caucus (United States) corporateBody
associatedWith Handler, Jerome S. person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Roosevelt University (Chicago, Ill.) corporateBody
memberOf United States. Congress. House person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Wendell Phillips High School (Chicago) corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Detroit MI US
Chicago IL US
Olympia Fields IL US
Subject
Occupation
Entrepreneurs
Journalists
Newspaper editors
Newspaper publishers
Representatives, U.S. Congress
Activity

Person

Birth 1925-10-30

Death 2015-10-31

Male

Americans

English

Information

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