Harvey Johnson Jr. is an American politician from Mississippi. He graduated from Rosa A. Temple High School in Vicksburg, Mississippi and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Tennessee State University in 1968. He earned his master’s degree in political science from the University … Read MoreHarvey Johnson Jr. (1946- )
Richard Gordon Hatcher was an American attorney, politician and the first African American mayor of Gary, Indiana. He served in that post for 20 years from 1968 to 1988. Hatcher was born on July 10, 1933, in Michigan City, Indiana. Hatcher and Carl Stokes, who … Read MoreRichard G. Hatcher (1933-2019)
The first African American mayor of Lawrenceville, Virginia, William H. Herrington, was born on August 15, 1950, in Hartsville, South Carolina, to Henry Herrington, a transportation worker from Darlington County, South Carolina, and Carrie Boyd Herrington, a housekeeper from Chester County, South Carolina. Herrington started … Read MoreWilliam H. Herrington (1950- )
Keisha Lance Bottoms is a lawyer, and politician, and the 60th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. Bottoms was born on January 18, 1970, to R&B singer-songwriter Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson, in Atlanta, Georgia. In her youth, the family briefly lived in England, before moving back … Read MoreKeisha Lance Bottoms (1970- )
Noel C. Taylor became the first African American mayor of Roanoke, Virginia. He held office from 1976 to 1992, and was the city’s longest serving mayor. Taylor was widely considered one of the most influential leaders in the city’s history. A Republican, he was elected mayor in 1976 after … Read MoreNoel C. Taylor (1924-1998)
Ben Gross is a legendary civil rights and union activist in San Jose, California and the surrounding Silicon Valley. Gross was born and raised in McGehee, Arkansas in 1921. In Arkansas, Gross lived under Jim Crow Laws (legal segregation) and picked cotton during the Great … Read MoreBen Gross (1921- )
Marion Barry Jr., a civil rights activist and later three term mayor of Washington, D.C., was born on March 6, 1936, in Itta Bena, Mississippi. His parents, Marion Barry and Mattie Barry, were sharecroppers; the family lived in relative poverty. When Marion was eight years … Read MoreMarion Barry, Jr. (1936-2014)
Legendary poet and politician, Aimé Césaire, was born on June 26, 1913, in the small town of Basse-Pointe on the island of Martinique. His father was a tax inspector and his mother a dressmaker. Unlike the majority of lower-class Martinicans, Césaire was taught to read … Read MoreAimé Césaire (1913-2008)
