Richard Arrington Jr. (born October 19, 1934 in Livingston, Alabama) was the first African American mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama (U.S.) and the second African American on the City Council. He served on the council for two terms from 1971 to 1979 and was mayor of the city for 20 years from 1979 to 1999. While in office as mayor and on the City Council, Arrington worked to end police brutality, rebuild the city's economy, and promote equality for all minorities.Franklin, Jimmie Lewis (1989). Back to Birmingham: Richard Arrington, Jr., and His Times. Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380: The University of Alabama Press. .Kelly, Mark. "Toward a New Birmingham; PART FOUR OF A FIVE PART SERIES ON THE
LIFE & TIMES OF RICHARD ARRINGTON, JR." Birmingham Weekly, Nov, 2005, pp. 8. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/toward-new-birmingham-part-four-five-series-on/docview/213755586/se-2. Throughout his political career, Arrington faced racial harassment and multiple investigations by the FBI and IRS for the changes he made to the city.OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, 136 Cong Rec S 2533. Vol. 136, No. 24. Alabama State Senate, 9 Mar. 1990, https://advance-lexis-com.libdata.lib.ua.edu/api/permalink/cc834b60-0ae8-413b-9cfa-5a5ea1b20bcb/?context=1519360&identityprofileid=S8R4K355325Wilson, Michele, and John Lynxwiler. “The Federal Government and the Harassment of Black Leaders: A Case Study of Mayor Richard Arrington Jr. of Birmingham.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 28, no. 5, 1998, pp. 540–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2784793. He replaced David Vann as mayor and, upon retiring after five terms in office, installed then-City Council president William A. Bell as interim mayor. Bell went on to lose the next election to Bernard Kincaid.
Background
Early life Arrington's father moved his family to the steel-town of Fairfield, Alabama from rural Sumter County, Alabama when Richard Jr. was five years old to take a job with U.S. Steel. The steady work was an improvement over sharecropping, but Richard Sr. still had to supplement the family income by working off-hours as a brick mason. Richard Arrington Jr.'s parents emphasized self-reliance, choosing to rent a home rather than stay in workers' housing. The family chose to shop at a black-owned cooperative store rather than accept credit at the company commissary. Arrington's mother, Ernestine, kept the table filled with home-grown vegetables and made sure that her children made use of the opportunities given to them through church and school.
He and his family attended the Crumbey Bethel Primitive Baptist Church. He became highly involved in many church activities and leadership roles. While still a teenager, he served as secretary of the Sunday School. Soon, he was Sunday School superintendent, a member of the choir, and eventually elected to the Board of Deacons which he continued to participate in throughout his political career.
Education Richard Arrington Jr. was a standout student at Fairfield Industrial High School where he was influenced by the principal, E. J. Oliver. The African American principal led the high school and the students, focusing on morality and discipline. E.J. Oliver became the first leader that young Arrington looked up to. He graduated high school in 1951 at the age of 16. Afterwards, he applied to Fairfield's Miles College."Richard Arrington, Jr." Civil Rights in the United States, edited by Waldo E. Martin, Jr. and Patricia Sullivan, Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2338130576/OVIC?u=tusc49521&sid=ebsco&xid=7ae0b920 Arrington majored in biology at Miles and excelled in the classroom and as a leader, rising to the presidency of his chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He was also an officer in the Honor Society and the Thespian Club. He graduated cum laude in 1955.
Richard Arrington Jr. took a position as a graduate assistant at the University of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. While there, he first experienced an integrated social environment and gained the perspective necessary to effectively critique the established segregation of his hometown. He earned a master's degree in 1957 and returned to Miles College as an Assistant Professor of Science where he taught for six years. Arrington entered the University of Oklahoma's doctoral program in Zoology in 1963 in the midst of the Birmingham Campaign between African American protesters and city authorities in Birmingham. He earned his doctorate at Oklahoma in 1966, completing a dissertation on the "Comparative Morphology of Some Dryopoid Beetles", and, at the urging of President Lucius Pitts, returned to Miles as acting Dean and Director of the Summer School. He was quickly promoted to Chair of the Natural Sciences Department and eventually was named Dean of the College.
Personal life and family The young Arrington met his first wife, Barbara Jean Watts, in high school. In his third year of college, while still living at home, the two got married. Barbara travelled with Arrington to the University of Detroit where the young couple faced difficulties. Despite struggling to adjust to the big urban city, the two enjoyed their years together. After losing their first child during childbirth, Barbara spent most of her time on their second child, Anthony (Tony) Arrington. After getting his master's at Detroit, the young family moved to Oklahoma for Arrington's doctoral degree.“Alabama.” Black Firsts, Second Edition, Dec. 2003, pp. 346–49. EBSCOhost, http://libdata.lib.ua.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=36799304&site=eds-live&scope=site While there, Barbara struggled in the mostly white community. The family faced isolation along with fears for their children: Tony, Kenneth, and Kevin. Despite the schools being integrated, Arrington and Barbara worried about the lack of black students and mentors. Although Arrington spent a lot of hours working on his degree, he made time to spend with his kids and family.
After returning to Birmingham in 1966, the couple began to face marital problems. As Arrington took a job at the Alabama Center for Higher Education (ACHE) and Barbara began to deepen her faith, they faced political disagreements. Along with their differing religious views, the couple began to drift apart. At this point, they had five children (Anthony, Kevin, Kenneth, Angela, and Erica). In 1974, Arrington and Barbara divorced, but the two continued to remain grateful for the years they had together.Kelly, Mark. "Toward a New Birmingham; THE LIFE & TIMES OF RICHARD ARRINGTON JR." Birmingham Weekly, Nov, 2005, pp. 8. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/toward-new-birmingham-life-times-richard/docview/213754892/se-2?accountid=14472 A year later, Richard Arrington Jr. met Rachel Reynolds at his work whom he married soon after. As Arrington continued in his political career, Rachel supported him in his dream for a unified Birmingham. Even though Arrington held the responsibility and role of City Council member and Mayor, his wife and family offered support and stability during those struggling times. A few years after his retirement from mayor, Arrington and Rachel divorced, and the former mayor faced the death of his daughter, Erica, in 2005.
City Council 1971-1979
Campaigns and elections In 1971, Arrington began campaigning for election to the Birmingham City Council with the pledge to make Birmingham "a city of which all her people can be proud." He placed third among 29 at-large candidates and faced five opponents in a runoff election for three remaining seats. Arrington earned a majority of the Black vote and won his seat easily, becoming, after Arthur Shores (who had been appointed to a vacant seat by Mayor George Siebels in 1968), the second African American to serve on the council. He won his first seat on the council due to the large African American voter turnout encouraged by the Jefferson County Progressive Democratic Council and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Arrington's second run for City Council was smoother due to the young politician winning a seat without a runoff.
Policies and accomplishments While on the council, Arrington worked to promote affirmative action in Birmingham. He introduced an ordinance requiring city departments to formulate hiring plans that included affirmative action goals and to contract business to companies that hired minorities. With opposition in the business community, the latter action failed, but the departmental hiring ordinance made it out of council to be vetoed by Siebels. Revised proposals that established recruitment programs and prohibited contracting with openly discriminatory firms, were later passed.
Arrington's next notable change was to push for a formal investigation into multiple reports of police brutality. One of which was the shooting of Willis "Bugs" Chambers Jr., an African American suspect, while he was under police custody. Chambers, who had been an informant for the police, died on February 21, 1972. After the incident, Arrington insisted the council move to have the Public Safety Committee investigate. The resulting investigation was unprecedented for the city. After seven weeks, the hearing was inconclusive but opened the door to a more serious look at police procedure. In another case of police brutality, Bonita Carter, an eighteen-year-old African American girl, was killed by a white police officer in 1979. After Mayor David Vann refused to fire the officer who shot Carter, Arrington decided to submit his run for mayor to end police brutality and enact more change in Birmingham.
Mayor 1979-1999
Campaigns and elections
Arrington won the 1979 mayoral election due to the Jefferson County Citizens Coalition which helped to mobilize 73% of black voters to vote in the runoff election. Although he had support from only 10% of white voters, African Americans in Birmingham voted in 1979 for the first African American mayor. In his second run for office, Arrington ran against John Katopodis, who was the City Council president. In 1983, Arrington won 60% of the votes in the city, winning reelection for another term. For his third term in office in 1987, Arrington faced three opponents in the polls. His biggest competition was Robert McKee, who was a white lawyer for the city. The other two opponents, Richard Finley and John Hawkins, were both African American politicians. Despite the competition, Arrington won 64% of the vote, earning him another term as mayor.Smothers, Ronald. "BIRMINGHAM MAYOR EASILY DEFEATS 3." New York Times, 15 Oct. 1987. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A176066882/OVIC?u=tusc49521&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=d71490c7 For his fourth run for office in 1991, Arrington faced a federal investigation into his personal and political life which earned him a strong albeit mixed presence in the local media. Even with the investigation, Arrington easily won a fourth term. In 1995, the mayor ran for his fifth and last term as the city of Birmingham's leader. With seven opponents, Arrington still won 54.9% of the vote."Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington Wins Fifth Term As Chief Exec." Jet (USA), vol. 88, no. 26, sec. NATIONAL REPORT, 6 Nov. 1995, pp. 4-5. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, https://infoweb-newsbank-com.libdata.lib.ua.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=199564CCA91349559DF320B5878B752C&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1759FC26BA3B16D8
Policies and accomplishments