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In the 19th century in the American South during Reconstruction, African Americans began to be elected to many local offices, such as sheriff or justice of the peace, and some became the first African-American mayors of cities and towns. After this brief period, African Americans found themselves unavailable to obtain mayoral offices due to racial discrimination. In the 1960s, they again began to be elected elected or appointed to mayoral positions following the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Achievements in African Americans' being elected mayor in majority-European American and other municipalities made their political participation one of daily life in many localities.
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19th century: 1860s • 1880s |
1860s
- 1868
-
- First African American elected mayor of a U.S. town: Pierre Caliste Landry, Donaldsonville, Louisiana[1]
- 1869
-
- First African-American mayor of Maryville, Tennessee: W. B. Scott[2]
1880s
- 1888
-
- First African-American mayor of a predominately white U.S. town, and of a Western U.S. town: Edward Duplex, Wheatland, California[3]
1960s
- 1966
-
- First African-American mayor of a U.S. city: Robert C. Henry, Springfield, Ohio (appointed by city commission)
- 1967
-
- First African American elected mayor of a large U.S. city: Carl B. Stokes (Cleveland, Ohio)
- First African American elected mayor of Gary, Indiana: Richard G. Hatcher
- First African American appointed mayor of Washington, D.C.: Walter Washington (see also: 1975)
- 1968
-
- First African American elected mayor of a predominantly white southern city: Howard Nathaniel Lee, Chapel Hill, North Carolina[4]
- 1969
-
- First African American elected mayor of a Mississippi city: Charles Evers, Fayette, Mississippi[5]
1970s
- 1970
-
- First African American elected mayor of Newark, New Jersey: Kenneth A. Gibson
- First African American elected mayor of Dayton, Ohio: James H. McGee
- First African American appointed mayor of Wichita, Kansas: A. Price Woodard[6]
- First African-American elected mayor of Salina, Kansas: Robert C. Caldwell[7]
- 1971
-
- First African American appointed mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan: Lyman Parks (see also: 1973)
- 1972
-
- First African-American mayor of Tallahassee, Florida: James R. Ford
- 1973
-
- First African American elected mayor of Detroit: Coleman Young
- First African American elected mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina: Clarence Lightner
- First African American elected mayor of a major Southern city: Maynard Jackson, Atlanta, Georgia[8]
- First African American elected mayor of a major Western city: Tom Bradley, Los Angeles, California
- First African American woman mayor of a major satellite city: Doris A. Davis, Compton, California
- First African American elected mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan: Lyman Parks (see also: 1971)
- 1975
-
- First African American elected mayor, and first elected mayor, of Washington, D.C.: Walter Washington (see also: 1967)
- 1977
-
- First African American mayor of Richmond, Virginia: Henry L. Marsh[9] (Note: elected from within nine City Council members; changed to general election in 2003)
- 1978
-
- First African American elected mayor of Oakland, California: Lionel J. Wilson
- First African American elected mayor of New Orleans: Ernest Nathan Morial
- 1979
-
- First African American elected mayor of Birmingham, Alabama: Richard Arrington, Jr.
1980s
- 1981
-
- First African American elected mayor of Spokane, Washington: James Everett Chase
- 1982
-
- First African American appointed mayor of Memphis, Tennessee: J.O. Patterson, Jr.
- 1983
-
- First African American elected Mayor of Chicago: Harold Washington
- First African American elected mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina: Harvey Gantt
- 1984
-
- First African American elected Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey: James Leroy Usry
- First African American elected Mayor of Philadelphia: Wilson Goode
- First African American elected mayor of Portsmouth, Virginia: James W. Holley, III
- 1988
-
- First African American elected mayor of Baltimore: Kurt Schmoke
- First African American elected mayor of Hempstead, New York: James A. Garner
- 1989
-
- First African American elected mayor of New York City: David Dinkins
- First African American elected mayor of New Haven, Connecticut: John C. Daniels
- First African American elected mayor of Richmond, California: George Livingston[10]
- First African American elected mayor of Seattle, Washington: Norm Rice
1990s
- 1990
-
- First African American elected Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey: Douglas Palmer
- First African American elected mayor of New Bern, North Carolina: Leander R. "Lee" Morgan [11]
- 1991
-
- First African American elected mayor of Memphis, Tennessee: W.W. Herenton
- First African American elected mayor of Denver, Colorado: Wellington Webb
- First African American elected mayor of Kansas City, Missouri: Emanuel Cleaver
- First African American woman elected mayor of Washington, D.C.: Sharon Pratt Kelly
- 1993
-
- First African American elected mayor of St. Louis, Missouri: Freeman Bosley, Jr.
- First African American elected mayor of Rochester, New York: William A. Johnson, Jr.
- 1994
-
- First African American and first woman elected mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota: Sharon Sayles Belton
- 1995
-
- First African American elected mayor of Dallas, Texas: Ron Kirk
- 1996
-
- First African American elected mayor of San Francisco: Willie Brown
- 1997
-
- First African American elected mayor of Jackson, Mississippi: Harvey Johnson, Jr.
- First African American elected mayor of Houston, Texas: Lee P. Brown
2000s
- 2000
-
- First African American elected mayor of Columbus, Ohio: Michael B. Coleman
- 2001
-
- First African-American elected Mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi: Johnny L. Dupree[12]
- First African-American woman mayor of major Southern city, and first woman to be elected mayor of Atlanta, Georgia: Shirley Franklin[13]
- First African American and first woman elected mayor of Southfield, Michigan: Brenda L. Lawrence
- 2002
-
- First African-American woman elected mayor of Dayton, Ohio: Rhine McLin
- 2003
-
- First African American elected by citizens as mayor of Tallahassee, Florida: John Marks
- 2004
-
- First African American elected mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Kip Holden
- First African American mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marvin Pratt
- First African American elected mayor of Pine Bluff, Arkansas: Carl A. Redus, Jr.[14]
- 2005
-
- First African American elected mayor of Buffalo, New York: Byron Brown
- First African American elected mayor of Mobile, Alabama: Sam Jones
- First African American elected mayor of Asheville, North Carolina: Terry Bellamy
- First African American elected mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio: Mark Mallory
- First African American elected mayor of Youngstown, Ohio: Jay Williams
- 2006
-
- First African American elected mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana: Cedric Glover
- First African American elected mayor of Anderson, South Carolina: Terence Roberts
- 2007
-
- First African American woman and first woman elected mayor of Baltimore: Sheila Dixon
- First African American elected mayor of Greensboro, North Carolina: Yvonne Johnson
- First African American elected mayor of Wichita, Kansas: Carl Brewer
- First African American elected mayor of South Harrison Township, New Jersey: Charles Tyson[15]
- 2008
-
- First African American elected mayor of Blue Springs, Missouri: Carson Ross
- First African American elected mayor of Lancaster, Texas: Marcus Knight
- First African American elected mayor of Mansfield, Ohio: Donald Culliver
- First African American elected mayor of Sacramento, California: Kevin Johnson
- First African American mayor of Festus, Missouri: Earl Cook[16]
- 2009
-
- First African American elected mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi: James Young
- First African American elected mayor of Freeport, New York: Andrew Hardwick[17]
- First African American and first woman elected mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and first African-American woman elected mayor in Utah: Mia Love[18]
2010s
- 2011
-
- First African American elected mayor of Jacksonville, Florida: Alvin Brown[19]
First Black female Mayor of Savannah, Georgia : Edna Jackson
-
- First African-American Mayor of Valdosta, Georgia: Joseph "Sonny" Vickers
- 2012
-
- First African-American Mayor of Ithaca, New York: Svante Myrick
See also
- List of African-American firsts
- List of African-American U.S. state firsts
- List of African-American United States Cabinet Secretaries
- Timeline of African-American Civil Rights Movement
References
- ^ Ron Stodghill, "Driving Back Into Louisiana’s History", The New York Times, 25 May 2008, accessed 7 Jul 2008
- ^ City of Maryville: "Maryville Historic Timeline"
- ^ "African American History American West Timeline", BlackPast.org, accessed 3 Aug 2008
- ^ Howard N. Lee, North Carolina Utilities Commission, accessed 25 May 2008
- ^ Neil R. McMillen, Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow, Chicago: University of Illinois, 1990, p.26
- ^ " Previous Wichita Mayors 1950-1989" City of Wichita
- ^ "Robert C. Caldwell" at the University of Kansas Libraries Kenneth Spencer Research Library
- ^ Lawrence Kestenbaum. "Mayors of Atlanta, Georgia". The Political Graveyard. http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/geo/GA/ofc/atlanta.html. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- ^ "Explorations in Black Leadership". University of Virginia Institute for Public History. http://www.virginia.edu/publichistory/bl/index.php?uid=22. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
- ^ Jones, Carolyn (2012-01-11). "George Livingston, Richmond's 1st black elected mayor". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/BALF1MNF43.DTL. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=2b0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38&dq=Michael+Morgan&hl=en&ei=YgN4TpOEM8ihtwe4j_mhDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=4&ved=0CEsQ6wEwAw#v=onepage&q=Michael%20Morgan&f=false
- ^ McLaughlin, Lacey "Democrats: The Mayor or the Businessman?" Jackson Free Press July 13, 2011 Retrieved August 21, 2011
- ^ Josh Fecht and Andrew Stevens (2007-11-14). "Shirley Franklin: Mayor of Atlanta". City Mayors. http://www.citymayors.com/usa/atlanta.html. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
- ^ ArkansasMatters.com: "Arkansas Mayoral Runoff Election Results", November 26, 2008
- ^ "Former South Harrison mayor who endured death threats steps down from council", Associated Press via NJ.com, November 10, 2009
- ^ Rubin, Ann. "Festus swears-in first African-American mayor" KSDK News, January 21, 2009
- ^ Rivera, Laura "300 watch as Andrew Hardwick sworn in as Freeport mayor" Newsday April 6, 2009 Retrieved 2009-11-4
- ^ "Meet Mia Love, Utah’s First African-American Mayor" News One, November 6, 2009
- ^ "Alvin Brown makes history, becoming city's first African-American mayor", Florida Times Union, May 18, 2011