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Blacks were elected mayors of 

[[image - black and white photograph of Carl Stokes]]
[[caption]] CARL STOKES [[/caption]]

The firing-line experience with a major city's problems as mayor of Cleveland and an inherent ability to evaluate news eminently qualify Carl B. Stokes for his current role as a reporter for "NewsCenter 4."

The news-magazine program offers way to help viewers solve their problems with government, stores, and service agencies, and Stoke's "Urban Journal" is an integral part of it. In addition, he is the anchorman for "Lead Story" on WNBC-TV's "Sunday" (10-11:30 a.m.)

Stokes joined WNBC-TV News in May, 1972, as an anchorman for the "Sixth Hour News" but subsequently took the assignment to report on urban affairs in keeping with his background as chief executive of a densely populated city.

Stokes served two consecutive terms as Cleveland's mayor, winning the 1967 and 1969 elections. He was the first black person to be elected mayor of a major, predominantly white city.

Born in a Cleveland ghetto in 1927, he took advantage of whatever educational opportunity was available and coupled it with the dedication that ultimately made him a nationally known figure. Near the close of World War II, Stokes, at age 18, enlisted in the Army and served 18 months, leaving the service as a corporal.

He completed high school after his return to Cleveland, attended West Virginia State College for one year, then transferred to the University of Minnesota, from which he was graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Back in Cleveland, he worked days as a Municipal Court probation officer and attended Cleveland-Marshall Law School at night. He received his LL.B. degree in June, 1956. After his admission to the bar, he worked as an assistant city prosecutor, then entered private practice.

In 1962, Stokes reached an important milestone when he became the first black Democrat to sit in the Ohio House of Representatives.

[[image - black and white photograph of Richard Hatcher]]
[[caption]] Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary [[/caption]]

"Richard Hatcher is running for his life," the New York Times ad said. "And yours. And the life of every American saddened and sickened by the mounting violence in this country.... Many of us say we're for peace and unity. Now is the time to put our money where our mouth is."

The situation for Richard Hatcher in 1967 was a desperate one. The Lake County Democratic Committee had withheld his financial support, and this was more than enough to offset the money contributed by the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, and by the regional offices of the steelworkers and the autoworkers unions.

On August 24, 1967, Hatcher placed a $7,000 ad in the New York Times and an $860 ad in the Gary Post-Tribune. That left him with only $14 in promotional money for his mayoralty campaign in Gary.

The prelude to the 1967 election was a startling reversal of the Democratic party politics which had governed the life of Gary for more than a generation. Gary's black and white population were split along strict racial lines, with the Latin population regarded as the potential holders of the key votes which might ensure a Republican victory.

Hatcher had defeated two white candidates, including the incumbent, in the party's May primary. In normal times, this would have been tantamount to victory in Gary. As it was, Hatcher nosed out Joseph B. Radigan in the hotly contested election by an official count of 39,330 to 37,941.

[[image - black and white photograph of Kenneth Gibson]] 

[[boxed]] 
Kenneth Gibson has spent 30 of his 38 years in Newark and now, as mayor, faces the impossible task of pulling the city out of its racial and economic tangle. The third black to become mayor of a major city, he has recruited a multiracial staff to help him assemble a permanent administration. 
[[/boxed]]

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