Black Big City Mayors, 2002-2007
There was little change in the number of black mayors of cities with at least 50,000 people between 2002 and 2007 [Tables 1a-1f]. Their numbers ranged from 50 in 2004 and 45 in 2006. In 2002 and 2003, there were two black mayors of cities with a million people or more, Houston and Philadelphia; for the remainder of the period, Philadelphia was the only city with more than a million residents with an elected black mayor. During this period, there were between five and eight black mayors of cities with more than 500,000 people.
Over this period, there was a significant change in the types of constituencies that black mayors served. At the beginning of this period, 2002, a majority -- 57.1 percent -- of black mayors served in cities that did not have a black majority population. By 2007, 59.6 percent of black mayors served in cities with a black majority population. The non-black majority cities that had a black mayor in 2002 but not in 2007 include Houston, San Francisco, Denver, Arlington, TX, Toledo, Jersey City, Rochester, Chesapeake, VA, Des Moines, Dayton, Oceanside, CA, Paterson, NJ, Hampton, VA, Fayetteville, NC, Beaumont, Carson, CA, Kalamazoo, Eden Prairie, MN, and Sarasota, FL.
As of January 2007, of the 100 largest cities in the country that have elected mayors, 39 have had black mayors. When the Joint Center next updates its list of mayors, numbers 40 and 41 will appear with the newly elected mayors of Wichita, Kansas, Carl Brewer, and Garland, Texas, Ron Jones. The updated 2008 list will also include Philadelphia's new mayor, Michael Nutter.
Of the 10 largest cities in the country, six have elected black mayors: 1. New York (David Dinkins), 2. Los Angeles (Tom Bradley), 3. Chicago (Harold Washington), 4. Houston (Lee Brown), 6. Philadelphia (Wilson Goode, John Street, Michael Nutter), and 9. Dallas (Ron Kirk).
It is the fortieth anniversary of the election of the first black big city mayors in the U.S. In 1967, Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland and Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary; they were followed by Kenneth Gibson, who was elected mayor of Newark in 1970.
Table 1a. Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population, 2002 [click here]
Table 1b. Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population, 2003 [click here]
Table 1c. Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population, 2004 [click here]
Table 1d. Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population, 2005 [click here]
Table 1e. Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population, 2006 [click here]
Table 1f. Black Mayors of Cities with 50,000-plus Population, 2007 [click here]
A final section has pdf files of all the tables for download and printing.