Newark Mayor Cory Booker
Photo by Bbsrock

The year 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the election of the first black mayor of a big U.S city. In 1967, Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland and Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, IN. The following year Kenneth Gibson was elected mayor of Newark in 1970. Of the 100 largest cities in the country, 39 have had elected black mayors. In 2002, 57.1% of black mayors served in cities that did not have a black majority population.

By 2007, that number has dropped to 40.4%. Perhaps the introduction and prevalence of the Black mayor has helped America become more comfortable with Black politicians in positions of major leadership. In 2002 there were 49 Black Mayors of cities with populations of more than 50,000 only dropping by six in 2011

Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population

Black Mayors of non-Black Majority Cities