Arrington, Richard, 1934-

<p>Richard Arrington, the first African American mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, was born in Livingston, Alabama on October 19, 1934 to sharecroppers. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Miles College (Alabama), a M.A. in Biology from the University of Detroit in Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Zoology and Biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma.</p>

<p>Before becoming mayor of Birmingham in 1979, Arrington taught at his alma mater, Miles College, the University of Alabama, and the University of Oklahoma. He also served for nine years as the Executive Director of the Alabama Center of Higher Education, a consortium of eight black colleges in the state of Alabama. From 1971 to 1979, he was a member of Birmingham’s city council.</p>

<p>Arrington, who served five terms as mayor, was reelected by large margins in 1983, 1987, and 1991. His reelection in 1995 was hotly contested. During his tenure he led the city through a period of “tremendous growth and resurgence.” Twenty commercial areas were revitalized at a cost of more than $300 million; $500 million was invested in public infrastructure improvements; the Civic Center was expanded at a cost of $140 million; and a $15 million Civil Rights Institute and Museum was constructed. Under his “Birmingham Plan,” begun in 1989, a voluntary program involving business and government, was established to help people of color share in Birmingham’s economic growth. As a result, blacks and other people of color won participation in construction contracts (more than 30% each year), minority professionals were recruited and retained, and a special $38 million home mortgage pool was established for low and moderate-income families.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 10/10/1995 Birmingham, AL Mayor Won 54.79% (+23.38%)</li>
<li> 10/08/1991 Birmingham, AL Mayor Won 62.64% (+31.11%)</li>
<li> 10/13/1987 Birmingham, AL Mayor Won 63.78% (+28.55%)</li>
<li> 10/11/1983 Birmingham, AL Mayor Won 60.13% (+20.43%)</li>
<li> 10/30/1979 Birmingham, AL Mayor - Runoff Won 51.17% (+2.33%)</li>
<li> 10/09/1979 Birmingham, AL Mayor - Primary Won 43.88% (+26.98%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Richard Arrington Jr. (born October 19, 1934 in Livingston, Alabama) was the first Black mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama (U.S.), serving 20 years, from 1979 to 1999. He replaced David Vann and, upon retiring after five terms in office, installed then-City Council president William A. Bell as interim mayor. Bell went on to lose the next election to Bernard Kincaid.</p>

<p>Arrington's father moved his family to the steel-town of Fairfield, Alabama from rural Sumter County, Alabama when Richard Jr. was five years old to take a job with U.S. Steel. The steady work was an improvement over sharecropping, but Richard Sr. still had to supplement the family income by working off-hours as a brick mason.</p>

<p>His parents emphasized self-reliance, choosing to rent a home rather than stay in workers' housing and shopping at a black-owned cooperative store rather than accept credit at the company commissary. Richard's mother, Ernestine, kept the table filled with home-grown vegetables and made sure that her children made use of the opportunities given them through church and school.</p>

<p>Political leader Richard Arrington was born on October 19, 1934 in Livingston, Alabama to Richard Arrington, Sr. and Mary Bell Arrington. Arrington graduated from Fairfield Industrial High School in Fairfield, Alabama in 1951. He went on to attend Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama where he earned his B.S. degree in biology in 1955; his M.S. degree in biology from the University of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan in 1957 and his Ph.D. degree in zoology from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma in 1966. Arrington later continued his post-doctoral work in higher education administration at Harvard University and the University of Michigan.</p>

<p>After graduating from the University of Detroit, Arrington returned to Miles College as an assistant professor of science from 1957 until 1963. In 1959, he served as a National Science Foundation Fellow in genetics at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and in radiation biology at the Medical College of the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Arrington then studied molecular biology at Washington University, St. Louis in 1960. He later returned to Miles College and served as acting dean and director of the summer school program. Arrington was then promoted to chair of the natural sciences department and became the dean of Miles College in 1966. In 1970, Arrington was named executive director of the Alabama Center for Higher Education and served until 1979. In the same year, he was hired as a part-time associate professor of biology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. In 1971, Arrington was elected to the Birmingham City Council and won re-election in 1975. Arrington ran for mayor of the City of Birmingham and was elected as the first African American mayor in 1979. After twenty years as mayor, Arrington retired in 1999 and worked as a visiting professor of public service at the University of Alabama, Birmingham until his retirement in 2003. In 2008, he published his memoir, There’s Hope for the World.</p>

<p>Arrington has seven children: Anthony, Kenneth, Kevin, Angela, Erica, Matthew and Jennifer.</p>