James E. Bish (October 1, 1859 - ''unknown'') was a state legislator in Illinois. He served in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

from 1895 to 1897. He wrote ''Past, Present, and the Future of the Negro''. He was born October 1, 1859, in

St. Francois County, Missouri St. Francois County () is a county located in the Lead Belt region in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,922. The largest city and county seat is Farmington. The county was officially organized on Decemb ...

. His parents were enslaved. He went to school in

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city and the county seat of St. Clair County, Illinois, coterminous with the now defunct Belleville Township. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The p ...

, and then learned telegraphy at Alton before studying law and moving to Chicago. In 1893, he was a member of the

, one of several members from Cook County, Illinois. A Republican, he was listed as working in real estate. Democrat Solomon Van Praag (died September 13, 1927) contested Bish's election. Bish was represented in the case by Charles Samuel Deneen. Bish served one term. The next year, he ran for the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...

as an independent Republican. He served in the

Illinois National Guard The Illinois National Guard comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components of Illinois. As of 2013, the Illinois National Guard has approximately 13,200 members. The National Guard is the only United States military force emp ...

. Bish earned the title of colonel at some point before 1898. In 1898 Bish was serving as Chicago's "city smoke inspector" under the Democratic mayoral administration of

Carter Harrison Jr. Carter Henry Harrison IV (April 23, 1860 – December 25, 1953) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician who served a total of five terms as mayor of Chicago (1897–1905 and 1911–1915) but failed in his attempt to becom ...

In 1913 he was one of ten engineers charged with petty graft, conspiracy and extortion. He was found guilty along with seven others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bish, James E. 1859 births People from St. Francois County, Missouri Politicians from Chicago African-American state legislators in Illinois 19th-century American legislators Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Date of death missing Illinois politicians convicted of crimes