Archer, Dennis W. (Dennis Wayne), 1942-

<p>Although he has served as a public school teacher, attorney, and Michigan State Supreme Court Justice, Dennis Archer is best know as the Mayor of Detroit and the first African American to become president of the American Bar Association.</p>

<p>Born on January 1, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan, Dennis Archer graduated from Western Michigan University in 1965 with a B.A. He taught disabled children in the Detroit Public Schools for five years while attending the Detroit College of Law. Archer graduated with a J.D. degree in 1970 and began practicing law.</p>

<p>Dennis Archer was first appointed a Justice on the Michigan State Supreme Court in 1985. He then won election to the Supreme Court post later that year and served until 1990. In 1993 he ran for mayor of Detroit, succeeding Mayor Coleman Young, the first black mayor of the city. Archer was not popular with many Young loyalists and did not receive the majority of the African American vote. Archer, however, eventually won over many of his critics and was elected to a second term in 1997 by a wide margin.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 11/04/1997 Detroit Mayor Won 83.19% (+66.37%)</li>
<li> 11/02/1993 Detroit Mayor Won 56.63% (+13.26%)</li>
<li> 09/14/1993 Detroit Mayor - Primary Won 53.37% (+26.70%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Political leader and lawyer Dennis Archer was born on January 1, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan to Ernest Archer and Frances Carroll. He graduated from Ross Beatty High School in 1959, and enrolled at Wayne State University before transferring to Western Michigan University in 1963, where he received his B.S. degree in education in 1965. In 1966, he enrolled at the University of Michigan but transferred to the Detroit College of Law, where he received his J.D. degree in 1970.</p>

<p>Following his graduation from Western Michigan University, Archer taught special education in Detroit Public Schools from 1965 to 1970. In 1970, Archer began working for the law office of Gragg & Gardener, P.C. He left the firm in 1971 to help found Hall, Stone, Archer & Glenn. In 1983, Archer was named president of the National Bar Association. The following year, he was elected president of the State Bar of Michigan. In 1985, Archer was appointed by Governor James Blanchard to serve as an associate justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. He was elected to an eight-year term but resigned in 1990. In 1994, Archer was elected as Mayor of Detroit. He would go on to win reelection in 1998. During Archer’s tenure as mayor, Detroit experienced a decrease in crime and an increase in economic growth. Following his second term as mayor, Archer became chairman of Dickinson Wright PLLC in 2002. In 2003, he became the first African American president of the American Bar Association. Archer later resumed his private law practice, Dennis W. Archer PLLC, after serving in that capacity.</p>

<p>Archer has won numerous awards and distinctions during his career. In 1998, Engineering News-Record magazine named him Newsmaker of the Year, and honored him with an Award of Excellence. Ebony magazine also named Archer one of its Most Influential Black Americans. Governing Magazine named Archer Public Official of the Year in 2000, and he was also featured on Newsweek Magazine’s list of Twenty-Five Most Dynamic Mayors in America. Archer served as a trustee for Western Michigan University, on the Board of Directors of Compuware Corporation. He founded the Dennis W. Archer Scholarship Fund in 2001.</p>

<p>Dennis Wayne Archer (born January 1, 1942) is an American lawyer, jurist and former politician from Michigan. A Democrat, Archer served on the Michigan Supreme Court and as mayor of Detroit. He later served as president of the American Bar Association, becoming the first black president of the organization, which, until 1943, had barred African-American lawyers from membership.</p>

<p>Dennis Archer was born on January 1, 1942 to a working class family living on the east side of Detroit. His family struggled financially because Archer's father lost his arm in an automobile accident. There were few employment opportunities for disabled people in the city, so the family relocated to rural Cassopolis when Archer was five years old.</p>

<p>Archer began working to help provide for his family at just eight years old. He worked as a golf-caddy, pinsetter at a bowling alley, and janitor at a bakery. After graduating high school, Archer financed his college education by painting homes, working at a drug store and becoming the first African-American to work in the Henry Ford Hospital medical records department. Archer began his college education at Wayne State University with the intention of becoming a pharmacist. He later transferred to the Detroit Institute of Technology and then to Western Michigan University.</p>