Charles Hayes

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Charles Arthur Hayes (February 17, 1918 - April 8, 1997) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. He born in Cairo, Illinois, and he graduated from Cairo's Sumner High School in 1935. He was a trade unionist from 1938-1983 and served as vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Hayes elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-eighth Congress, by special election on August 23, 1983, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Harold Washington. He was reelected to the Ninety-ninth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from August 23, 1983 to January 3, 1993. His candidacy for renomination in 1992 to the One Hundred Third Congress was unsuccessful, as he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Bobby Rush

Hayes was a resident of Chicago for most of his adult life. He was a civil rights leader who worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the 1960s. Hayes was the author of a bill that established the Black Higher Education Department.

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.