James Perkins Jr. became the first African American mayor of Selma, Alabama on September 13, 2000. Perkins was born on January 15, 1953. His parents were James Perkins, Sr., an R.B. Hudson High School teacher in Selma and Etta Perkins, a nurse. In 1971, Perkins … Read MoreJames Perkins Jr. (1953- )
Douglas Palmer, the first Black mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, was born Douglas Harold Palmer on October 19, 1951, in the city, to George H. Palmer, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and Dorothy Vaughn Palmer from Trenton. Douglas’s sibling is Karen Palmer Richardson. Palmer’s … Read MoreDouglas Palmer (1951- )
Kenneth E. Reeves, the first African American Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was born Kenneth Errol Reeves in Detroit, Michigan, on February 8, 1951. His parents were Jamaican immigrants who divorced when he was just a year old, and he was reared in a single-parent household … Read MoreKenneth E. Reeves (1951- )
James Young is the first African American mayor of the small town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, a considerable achievement considering Philadelphia’s history during the Civil Rights movement of the 1970s. Philadelphia’s population of 7,000 is now 51% African-American and 46% white. Young was one of eight … Read MoreJames Young (1955- )
The first African American mayor of Long Beach, California, Rex Richardson was born at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois on August 18, 1983. His parents divorced when Rex was a toddler. Over the next few years, Rex, his mother, and siblings moved numerous times … Read MoreRex Richardson (1983- )
William A. Johnson Jr., the first African American mayor of Rochester, New York, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on August 22, 1942. He attended Howard University from 1961 to 1967, completing Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Political Science and Government in 1967. This education laid … Read MoreWilliam A. Johnson, Jr. (1942- )
Alvin A. Brown, the first African American mayor of Jacksonville, Florida was born on December 15, 1961, in Beaufort, South Carolina and was reared with his four siblings by his mother and grandmother. His formative years were spent at St. Helena Junior High School, and … Read MoreAlvin A. Brown (1961- )
Howard Nathaniel Lee made history in 1969 as the first African American to be elected mayor of any majority-white city in the South. Lee was born on July 28, 1934, in Lithonia, Georgia, to sharecroppers Howard Lee and Lou Temple who had six other children. … Read MoreHoward Nathaniel Lee (1934- )
Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s first African American Mayor, Cavalier Johnson was born in the city on November 5, 1986, to Denise Hardwick-Townsend. Additional information about his father, who was a Milwaukee Public Schools janitor, was not available during this search. However, Cavalier is the youngest of 10 … Read MoreCavalier Johnson (1986- )
On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom chose well-known labor organizer and political strategist Laphonza Butler to be the next US Senator from California, following the death of long-serving Senator Dianne Feinstein on September 29, 2023. Butler, who was sworn in by Vice President … Read MoreLaphonza Romanique Butler (1979- )
