On October 3, 1991, Memphis elected its first African-American mayor, Dr. Willie Herenton. Since then, this outspoken and sometimes controversial official has accumulated a large number of critics and supporters. Aside from his politics, however, what do you really know about the mayor? Below you will find a short biography about the life and career of Willie Herenton.
Birth and childhood:
Willie Wilbert Herenton was born in Memphis on April 23, 1940. He was raised in South Memphis by a single mother. When he was young, he dreamed of becoming a professional boxer.
Education and early career:
she finally decided that she wanted to study and attended college at Lemoyne-Owen. After graduating he obtained a position as a city school teacher. He went on to earn his master’s degree from Memphis State University and became the youngest principal in Memphis at 27 years of age. After earning his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University, he became the superintendent of Memphis City Schools.
Personal life:
Herenton met his future wife, Ida Jones, while attending Lemoyne-Owen. The two were soon married. Together they had three children: Duke, Rodney, and Andrea. In 1988, Herenton divorced Ida. He would later father a fourth child in 2004.
Political career:
In 1991, Herenton entered the race for mayor of Memphis against incumbent Dick Hackett. It was a close race and Herenton won by just 142 votes. After serving four consecutive terms, the mayor was elected to an unprecedented fifth term in October 2007, winning just 42% of the popular vote. Less than six months later, Herenton announced his plan to resign as mayor, effective July 31, 2008. He later retracted his resignation and continued to serve as mayor of Memphis.
In 2009, Herenton announced his plans to run for the US Congress against Steve Cohen. With that campaign in mind, Herenton resigned from the mayoralty on July 30, 2009. Just two weeks later, on August 13, Willie Herenton obtained a petition to stand in the special Memphis mayoral election to be held on May 15. October 2009.
In 2010, Herenton ran against Congressman Steve Cohen in the Democratic primary for the black-majority ninth congressional district. Herenton received only 20% of the vote and Cohen won the primaries. Cohen went on to be reelected for the ninth seat in the Tennessee Congress.
