Floyd Adams Jr. elected first Black Mayor of Savannah, GA

Jet, Jan 8, 1996

Floyd Adams Jr. defeated incumbent Susan Weiner to become the first Black mayor of Savannah, GA.

Adams, a Democrat who served on Savannah's City Council for 13 years, received 50.4 percent of the votes, defeating his Republican opponent Floyd by a narrow margin of 256 votes.

At his victory celebration Adams drew lots of applause and cheers as he talked about bringing unity to Georgia's most historic city and former slave port.

"We need to start bringing this city together," he said. "We can do it. We can bring this city together."

Adams, 50, is the president of general management and editor of the Savannah Herald, the city's weekly Black newspaper and printing company. It is a family-owned paper, stated by his parents in 1945.

The votes were recounted at Weiner's request after she made charges of numerous election irregularities. The recount showed no change in the election results.

This is the third time that Adams has made political history in his native city.

In 1991 he became the first Black to win a citywide election in his own right when he was elected to the alderman-at-large post 1 and he was Savannah's first Black Mayor Pro Tem (vice mayor) in 1992.