This week, we go back in time with the makers of the documentary Punch 9 for Harold Washington. The film examines the incomparable former Mayor of Chicago’s time in office. Pulled from Congress, Washington became Chicago’s first Black Mayor in 1983 thanks to a multiracial coalition of progressives who campaigned hard on his behalf. He took over after one-termer Jane Byrne and after decades under Richard J. Daley’s leadership. The film includes archival footage and candid interviews with a cavalcade of notable Chicagoans: the Reverend Jesse Jackson, late civil rights historian Timuel Black, late educator Conrad Worrill, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Laura Washington, plus contemporaries like Chuy Garcia, Luis Gutierrez and David Orr – as well as staff, supporters, and opponents, like former 33rd Ward Ald. Dick Mell. Mell was one of the leaders of the Vrdolyak 29, the mostly white City Council members who opposed Washington at every turn, kicking off the infamous Council Wars. If you need a reminder, Washington beat both Byrne and Richard M. Daley in the 1983 primary, then faced Republican Bernard Epton in the general. The film explores the racial animus Washington was up against as a candidate – when Epton used the slogan “before it’s too late…” – and then as mayor, alongside the segregation and discrimination Chicagoans of color experienced. It also explores the kind of city Washington wanted to build before his sudden death in his office in 1987. Work on the film kicked off in 2015 and it debuted for select public audiences this past fall. Director Joe Winston and producer Sonya Jackson talk about how Washington paved the way for candidates of color, what parts of his legacy endure – and what is still left unfulfilled.