The first African-American mayors were elected during Reconstruction in the Southern United States beginning about 1867. African Americans in the South were also elected to many local offices, such as sheriff and Justice of the Peace, and state offices such as legislatures as well as a smaller number of federal offices. After this period ended in 1876, it became increasingly difficult for African Americans to compete in elections due to racial discrimination, such as Jim Crow laws.
After the end of the 19th century, it generally was not until the 1960s, following the civil rights movement and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, that they again began to be elected or appointed to mayoral positions. 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.
In 1970, there were fewer than 50 African American mayors; by 1982, there were 205. Lelia Foley was the first African American woman elected mayor in the United States. In 1986, the first African-American women mayors were elected to major mid-size cities.
1860s
1867
First African-American appointed mayor of a U.S. town as mayor of St. Martinville, Louisiana: Monroe Baker
1868 First African American elected mayor of a U.S. town as mayor of Donaldsonville, Louisiana: Pierre Caliste LandryRon Stodghill, "Driving Back Into Louisiana’s History", The New York Times, May 25, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2008 First African-American mayor of Kingstree, South Carolina: Stephen Atkins Swails
1869 First African-American mayor of Maryville, Tennessee: William Bennett Scott Sr.
1870s
1870 First African American elected mayor of a Mississippi city: Robert H. Wood, mayor of Natchez
1871
First African-American mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Loyeau Berhel
1875
First African American mayor of Newnansville, Florida: Matthew M. Lewey
1876 First African American Acting mayor of Tallahassee: Samuel C. Watkins
1878
First African American to be elected to serve as mayor in the state of New York: Edward "Ned" Sherman, mayor of Cleveland, New York
1880s
1886 First African American mayor of Brooklyn, Illinois: John Evans
1887 Founding mayor: Columbus H. Boger, Eatonville, Florida
1888 First African American to be elected to the office of mayor in California and probably the first elected mayor in the Western United States: Edward P. Duplex, Wheatland, California
1899 Founding mayor of Hobson City, Alabama; Samuel L. Davis
1900s
1905 Founding mayor of Boley, Oklahoma: T. B. Armstrong
1910s
1918 Founding mayor of Robbins, Illinois: Thomas J. Kellar
1920s
1926 Lawnside, New Jersey became a self-governing community in 1926 and has elected African-American mayors since its inception.
1940s
1946 First African American mayor of Lincoln Heights, Ohio: Michael J. Mangham
1949 First African American mayor of East Chicago Heights, Illinois (now known as Ford Heights): Charlie Williams
1960s 1963 First African-American mayor in the state of Hawaii as the Chairman and Executive Officer of the County of Hawaii (a forerunner of the Mayor of Hawaiʻi County): Helene Hale
1964 First African-American mayor of Richmond, California: George D. Carroll
1966 First African-American mayor of Flint, Michigan: Floyd J. McCree First African-American mayor of Lake Elsinore, California: Thomas R. Yarborough First African-American mayor of Milpitas, California: Ben F. Gross First African-American mayor of El Centro, California: DuBois McGee First African-American mayor of Springfield, Ohio: Robert C. Henry
1967 First elected African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana: Richard G. HatcherHatcher, Richard G. (1933– ) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2016, from http://www.blackpast.org/aah/hatcher-richard-g-1933 First African-American mayor of a large U.S. city, Cleveland, Ohio: Carl Stokes First African-American appointed mayor of Washington, D.C.: Walter Washington (see also: 1975) First African American mayor of Ypsilanti, Michigan: John BurtonRobinson, Veronica (September 4, 2009). "John Burton, One of the First African American Mayors in Michigan". Ann Arbor District Library. ypsigleanings.aadl.org. Retrieved June 9, 2017. First African American mayor of Saginaw, Michigan: Henry G. Marsh
1968 First African American to be elected mayor of Montclair, New Jersey: Matthew G. Carter First African-American mayor of a Kentucky city: Luska Twyman, Glasgow, Kentucky First African American to be elected mayor of a predominantly white Southern city: Howard Nathaniel Lee, Chapel Hill, North CarolinaHoward N. Lee , North Carolina Utilities Commission. Retrieved May 25, 2008 First African American to be elected mayor in Michigan: Robert B. Blackwell, Highland Park, Michigan
1969 In 1969, Sophia Mitchell was appointed mayor of Rendville, becoming the first African American woman to serve as mayor in Ohio. She continued to lead for at least two additional terms. First African American to be elected mayor of Fayette, Mississippi: Charles EversNeil R. McMillen, Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow, Chicago: University of Illinois, 1990, p.26 First African-American mayor of Compton, California: Douglas Dollarhide First African American to be elected mayor of East Orange, New Jersey: William Stanford Hart Sr. First African American to be elected mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Howard Nathaniel Lee
1970s
1970 First African American to be elected mayor of Newark, New Jersey: Kenneth A. Gibson First African American to be elected mayor of Dayton, Ohio: James H. McGee First African-American appointed mayor of Wichita, Kansas: A. Price Woodard" Previous Wichita Mayors 1950–1989" City of Wichita First African American to be elected mayor of Salina, Kansas: Robert C. Caldwell"Robert C. Caldwell" at the University of Kansas Libraries Kenneth Spencer Research Library First African American to be elected mayor of Chesilhurst, New Jersey: George J. Phillips First African American to be appointed mayor of Carson, California: Gilbert D. Smith
1971 First African American to be appointed mayor of Gainesville, Florida since the Reconstruction era: Neil A. Butler First African American to be appointed mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan: Lyman Parks (see also: 1973) First African-American mayor of Englewood, New Jersey: Walter Scott Taylor First African American to be elected mayor of Berkeley, California: Warren Widener
1972 First African-American mayor of Tallahassee, Florida and first African-American mayor of a state capital: James R. Ford First African-American mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio: Ted Berry First African-American mayor of Uniontown, Alabama: Andrew Hayden First African-American mayor of Prichard, Alabama: Algernon J. Cooper First African American to be appointed mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas: Benjamin Day First African-American elected female mayor of (Urbancrest, Ohio) Ellen Walker Craig-Jones, in the United States (January 1, 1972) The Columbus, Ohio Board of Election, validates the dates of election First African-American mayor of Lakeland, Florida: John S. Jackson First African American mayor of Manhattan, Kansas: Murt Hanks Jr.
1973 First African American to be elected mayor of Detroit, Michigan: Coleman Young First African American to be elected mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina: Clarence Lightner First African American to be elected mayor of a city in Georgia, Greenville: Richmond D. Hill First African American to be elected mayor of a major Southern city: Maynard Jackson, Atlanta, Georgia First African American to be elected mayor of a major Western city: Tom Bradley, Los Angeles, California First African-American female mayor: Lelia Foley, Taft, Oklahoma First African-American female mayor of a major satellite city and first African American woman mayor in California: Doris A. Davis, Compton, California First African American to be elected mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan: Lyman Parks (see also: 1971)
1974 First African American to be elected mayor of Waco, Texas: Oscar Du Conge First African American to be appointed mayor of Pontiac, Michigan: Wallace E. Holland First African American to be elected mayor of Boulder, Colorado: Penfield Tate First African-American woman to be elected mayor of Fairplay, Colorado: Ada B. Evans First African American to be elected mayor of Berkeley Township, New Jersey: Edward Tolbert First African American to be elected mayor of Matawan, New Jersey and first African-American mayor in Monmouth County: Philip N. Gumbs First African American to be elected mayor of Paulsboro, New Jersey: Elwood Hampton First African American to be elected mayor of Randolph, New Jersey: Tyrone Barnes First African-American mayor of Bridgewater, New York and first African-American mayor in New York State: Everett Holmes First African-American mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia: Charles H. Barbour
1975 First African American to be elected mayor, and first elected mayor, of Washington, D.C.: Walter Washington (see also: 1967) First African-American mayor of Santa Monica, California: Nat Trives First African-American mayor of Opa-Locka, Florida and first African-American mayor in Dade County: Albert Tresvant First African-American mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan: Albert Wheeler
1976 First African American to be elected mayor of Pocatello, Idaho and first African American to be elected mayor in the state of Idaho: Thomas L. Purce First African-American mayor of Seaside, California: Oscar Lawson First African-American mayor of Opelousas, Louisiana: John W. Joseph First African-American mayor in New Mexico and first African-American mayor of Las Cruces, New Mexico: Albert Johnson First African-American woman to be elected mayor in the U.S. state of Mississippi, as Mayor of Mayersville: Unita Blackwell
1977 First African-American mayor of Richmond, Virginia: Henry L. Marsh (Note: elected from within nine City Council members; changed to general election in 2003) First African American to be elected mayor of Oakland, California: Lionel Wilson
1978 First African American to be elected mayor of New Orleans: Ernest Nathan Morial First African-American woman to be elected mayor in Walthourville, Georgia: Carrie Kent
1979 First African American to be elected mayor of Birmingham, Alabama: Richard Arrington, Jr. First African American to be appointed mayor of New London, Connecticut: Leo E. Jackson First African American to be elected mayor of Rock Island, Illinois: James R. Davis First African American mayor of Battle Creek, Michigan: Donald Sherrod
1980s
1980 First African-American mayor of Menlo Park, California: Billy Ray White
1981 First African American to be elected mayor of Camden, New Jersey: Randy Primas First African American to be elected mayor of Spokane, Washington: James Everett Chase First African American to be elected mayor of Plainfield, New Jersey, and first African American elected mayor in Central New Jersey: Everett C. Lattimore First African-American mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas: Charles E. Bussey Jr."Charles E. Bussey Jr. (1918–1996)", Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. First African-American mayor of Winter Haven, Florida: Lemuel Geathers First African-American mayor of Hartford, Connecticut: Thirman L. Milner First African-American mayor of Maywood, Illinois: Joe Freelon First African-American appointed mayor of Augusta, Georgia: Ed McIntyre
1982 First African American to succeed to the office of mayor of Memphis, Tennessee after the resignation of his predecessor: J.O. Patterson, Jr. First African-American mayor of Teaneck, New Jersey: Bernard E. Brooks