Sharon D. WRIGHT Austin, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science,
University of Florida
Doris Davis, photographed in 2008, was the first Black woman to lead a major U.S. city. Photo by Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Mayors are elected to govern their cities, serve and protect citizens, maintain law and order and bring about economic prosperity. Those are tall orders today, as American cities are wracked by COVID-19 and anti-racism protests. One effect of these simultaneous crises has been to thrust Black female mayors onto the national stage. That’s because, for the first time in U.S. history, Black women lead several of the United States’ largest cities, including Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.
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