New Black mayors take charge; 'a new beginning' in Memphis, a big victory in Cincinnati - W.W. Herenton and Dwight Tillery

Ebony, March, 1992 by Walter Leavy

IN one of the best examples of a real-life Horatio Alger story, Willie W Herenton, who grew up in die poverty of housing projects and went on to earn a doctorate in education, was elected the first Black mayor in the same city that once forced him to attend segregated schools.

Proclaiming his victory "a new beginning for Memphis, " Herenton took over in a city that has been described as one of the most racially polarized areas in the nation. But with his historic triumph comes the hope that his reign will bring about an era of racial cooperation and economic progress.

This is truly the dawn of a new era, an era that will move this city toward unprecedented unity and prosperity for all our city," Herenton says. "We are going to reach new plateaus in human understanding; we're going to experience tremendous economic growth, and we're going to change the national image of this city. "

To a great degree, the new mayor's election already has changed the image of the city that gained infamy as the place where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. His victory has gone a tong way toward changing the long-standing view of Memphis as "a backward, backwater, riverboat town" whose Black residents were often described as not being sophisticated enough to unite behind one Black candidate.

Although 55 percent of the city's 645,000 residents are Black, the political evolutions of the New South continued to pass Memphis by while other Southern cities with Black majorities (like Atlanta and Birmingham) were able to elect Black mayors. This time, though, Blacks were determined not to make the same frustrating mistakes of the past. After conducting a number of so-called "neighborhood summit meetings," more than 5,000 Black delegates attended the historic first African-American Peoples Convention in April and overwhelmingly nominated Herenton as the consensus Black candidate. Following a strong voter-registration drive and a record turnout of Blacks at the polls, Herenton--in his first political contest--unseated the 9-year incumbent, Richard Hackett, with a slim 142-vote margin that represents the closest election for mayor in the city's history. And, as would be expected, that victory sparked incredible jubilation among impatient Blacks who had been embarrassed by their inability to become a part of the political evolutions that had emerged in other Southern cities. As I travel across this city, I see Black folks with their heads held high," Herenton says in reference to his victory. "There's a new look. A new talk. It's self-esteem, and that's what makes me feel good. " When you consider Herenton's background, which includes chopping and picking cotton as a youth, it took more than self-esteem to get him to this point in his life. In fact, it was unbridled ambition and an incredible thirst for education that lifted the 51-year-old, 6-foot-6 native Memphian from poverty to the highest political office in the nation's 15th-largest city.

A former Golden Gloves boxing champion, who once wanted to follow in the footsteps of his idols Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson, he decided not to pursue a professional boxing career and opted instead for a career in education. The mayor, who once had a job unloading 100-pound sacks of grain from railroad cars, worked his way through LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis and, at 28, became the youngest principal in the city.

Herenton, who is divorced and the father of two sons and a daughter, later earned a doctorate in education from Southern Illinois University. He returned to Memphis and held a variety of administrative positions in the school system before his selection in 1979 as the first Black superintendent, a position he held for 12 years. During his tenure, he brought national attention to the city schools, and his Adopt-A-School program, the largest in the nation, was cited with the first prestigious Private Sector Initiative Award.

If he is to succeed in City Hall, Herenton will have to call upon all of the administrative and persuasive skills that helped him make Memphis' school system a national model. While dealing with racism and ending poverty are among his prime goals, the mayor--who promises to be an advocate for the homeless and poor--says he will also encourage tourism and explore initiatives in crime prevention, education and housing.

With Herenton's election also comes the hope that Memphis, which has been slow to embrace the model of the New South, will be viewed more positively in the international community and quickly elevate itself to the economic level of cities like Atlanta. Those hopes are shared by the new mayor, who insists that the city is in for some big changes. "Memphis will never be the same," he says."If Memphians give us a little time, they won't have to rush to Atlanta for growth. They're going to be glad to stay right here in Memphis."

A Big Victory In Cincinnati

WHEN Dwight Tillery accepted an invitation to become a city councilman's legislative aide while he was still studying political science at die University of Cincinnati, he had no idea that this somewhat hesitant step would eventually lead him to the mayor's seat and a place in Cincinnati's history books.