Evelyn Wells (politician)

Last updated

Evelyn Wells (born 1946/1947) [1] is an American politician who served as the first woman mayor and second African-American mayor of Lynwood, California.

Biography

In November 1985, Wells was elected to the City Council, the second African-American and the first woman elected to the council in 20 years [2] (Ruthann McMeekin served from 1954 to 1958). [1] In December 1985, she nominated Robert Henning for mayor who was subsequently approved by the City Council becoming Lynwood's first African-American mayor, and she was named mayor pro tem. [2] [3] After the November 1986 election, Black control of the City Council was solidified after the addition of Paul Richards. On December 2, 1986, the council deadlocked 2–2 on appointing Hennings successor, the result of the absence of councilmember John Byork who had pneumonia. [4] [5] They also deadlocked in agreeing to extend the date for the vote so Byork could return. [4] [5] Henning, who supporting his council ally Wells, resigned on the same day making Wells acting mayor, the first woman to hold the office in Lynwood. [4] On December 16, 1986, Byork returned and the full council voted 3-1 for Paul Richards as mayor (Henning abstained, Wells voted against, and Richards, Byork, and council member E.L. Morris voted for the nomination). [4] Although she relinquished the gavel, Wells physically refused to give up the center seat as historically, the mayor pro tem served as the next mayor stating that she was not chosen because she was a woman. [4] In January 1989, the council voted 4-1 (E.L. Morris voted against) to name Wells as mayor succeeding Richards. [1] In February 1989, she was able to get the council to unanimously pass an assault weapons ban. [6] In April 1989, she secured in a 3–2 vote for the renaming of Century Boulevard to Martin Luther King Boulevard over the objection of local businessowners; the three Black Council members voted in favor while E.L. Morris and Louis J. Heine voted for different names. [7] She supported the development of the Genesys Project, a military-style school exclusively for young Black men in the city. [8] She served as mayor until January 1990 when her political ally Henning was again named as mayor. [9] In 1991, Henning was defeated in a bitter campaign for a seat on the City Council by school principal Louis Byrd leaving Wells and Richards without effective majority control of the City Council (Byrd, although Black, was allied with Latino councilman Armando Rea leaving white councilman Heine as the swing vote). [8] In 1992, she unsuccessfully ran for the 52nd district in the California Assembly finishing third in the Democratic primary with 24.8% of the vote to Willard Murray (with 45.4%) and Compton councilwoman Patricia Moore (with 29.8%). [10] [11]

On April 2, 1993, her husband, Donald Morris, was shot and killed a day after he accused her of having an affair. [12] She did not stand for re-election.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles City Council</span> City council; lawmaking body of Los Angeles, U.S.

The Los Angeles City Council is the lawmaking body of Los Angeles, California, United States. It has 15 members from 15 council districts that are spread throughout the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Wachs</span> American lawyer and politician

Joel Wachs is an American former politician and lawyer. He is the president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York City. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for 30 years, where he was known for his promotion of the arts, support of gay causes, advocacy of rent control and other economic measures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernani Bernardi</span> American musician and politician

Ernani Bernardi was a big band musician and politician. Bernardi served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1961 to 1993, representing 7th district and becoming the second longest-serving council member in the history of the city. Prior to entering politics, Bernardi was the musical arranger for two of the mid-20th century's most popular dance melodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert W. Lindsay</span> American politician

Gilbert William Lindsay was an American politician who worked his way up from Los Angeles City Hall janitor to become the city's first black City Council member and one of its most powerful elected officials. He helped fashion downtown Los Angeles into a major metropolitan center but was accused of turning his back on the people in his district who elected him to 27 years on the city's governing body from 1963 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doris A. Davis</span>

Doris A. Davis is a former mayor of Compton, California, who earned a place in history as the first African-American woman mayor of a metropolitan city in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curren Price</span> American politician

Curren De Mille Price Jr. is an American politician of the Democratic Party, currently serving as a Los Angeles city council member for District 9. Price was a California State Senator, representing the state's 26th Senate District which he won in the May 19, 2009 special election to fill the seat vacated by Mark Ridley-Thomas. He previously served as a member of the California State Assembly, representing the state's 51st Assembly District. He was first elected to that position in 2006, and was re-elected in 2008. Price resigned as state senator on July 1, 2013, to be sworn in as Los Angeles city councilman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynwood, California</span> City in California, United States

Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 67,265, down from 69,772 at the 2010 census. Lynwood is located near South Gate and Compton in the central portion of the Los Angeles Basin. Incorporated in 1921, Lynwood was named after the Lynwood Dairy and Creamery, from which the local station of the Pacific Electric Railway had been named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loretta Thompson-Glickman</span> American jazz musician

Loretta Jean Thompson-Glickman was an American politician. She became the first African-American mayor of Pasadena, California in 1982, which also made her the first Black woman to be mayor of an American city of over 100,000 residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estelle Lawton Lindsey</span> American journalist

Estelle Lawton Lindsey was a 20th-century journalist who was also the first female City Council member in Los Angeles, California, (1915–17) the first woman to preside over the City Council there and the first woman to act as mayor in any American city of comparable size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 Los Angeles mayoral election</span> Elections for mayor in 1969 resulted in a runoff

The 1969 Los Angeles mayoral election took place on April 1, 1969, with a run-off election on May 27, 1969. Incumbent Sam Yorty was re-elected over councilmember Tom Bradley, a win that had a record-breaking turnout. Yorty used race against Bradley to paint him as a mayor who would be open to Black Nationalism and that he was inefficient against fighting crime, both were denied by Bradley as he was a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department before his election to the council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Richards (California politician)</span> American politician

Paul H. Richards, II is an American politician who is a former mayor of Lynwood, California. He was sentenced to federal prison in 2006 on federal bribery and kickback charges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 California's 34th congressional district special election</span>

A special election was held on June 6, 2017, to elect the member of the United States House of Representatives for California's 34th congressional district. A special open primary election was held on April 4, 2017.

Polly Harris was a Texas politician and theater enthusiast. Harris was one of the first women politicians in El Paso. She was known for serving on City Council and supporting local theater. A senior center in El Paso is named after her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessie Mae Brown Beavers</span> American journalist

Jessie Mae Brown Beavers was an American journalist based in Los Angeles, California. She was an editor at the Los Angeles Sentinel from 1949 to 1989, and served sixteen years on the city's Human Relations Commission, beginning with her 1973 appointment by mayor Tom Bradley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Los Angeles mayoral election</span> Municipal election in California

The 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the mayor of Los Angeles, California. A top-two primary was held on June 7, 2022. Candidates could win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote, but no candidate received a majority. More than forty candidates formed committees to run. Twenty-seven filed their declaration of intention to collect signatures for the ballot, and of these twelve qualified.

Robert Henning is an American politician who served as the first African-American mayor of Lynwood, California.

Billy Ray White was an American politician who served as the first African-American mayor of Menlo Park, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sak Yamamoto</span> American politician

Sakae "Sak" Yamamoto is an American politician who served as the first Asian-American mayor of Carson, California.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "City Council Elects Wells as First Female Mayor". The Los Angeles Times . January 12, 1989. Wells, 42, is the first Black woman....
  2. 1 2 Cose, Elise (July 2, 2006). "Black versus Brown". Newsweek .
  3. ↑ Harris, Lee (January 2, 1986). "Mayor Reflects Changing City : 1st Black to Lead Lynwood Once Fought Council". The Los Angeles Times .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Harris, Lee (December 18, 1986). "New Mayor Takes Seat from Angry Colleague". The Los Angeles Times .
  5. 1 2 "Lynwood : Wells Serving as Mayor". The Los Angeles Times . December 4, 1986.
  6. ↑ "2 More Cities Ban Assault Weapons". The Los Angeles Times . February 10, 1989 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Harris, Lee (April 20, 1989). "Renaming Of Century Blvd. To Proceed". The Los Angeles Times . p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 "2 Council Incumbents Suffer Surprise Losses". The Los Angeles Times . November 7, 1991. pp.  J1, J9 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Henning Elected Lynwood Mayor; Anti-Theft Car Decal System OKd". The Los Angeles Times . January 7, 1990.
  10. ↑ Harris, Lee (April 20, 1989). "Ferlando Has No Trouble in the 54th District". The Los Angeles Times . p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Final Election Results - California's Assembly". The Los Angeles Times . June 4, 1992. p. A19 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Article Barred". The Fresno Bee . October 18, 1993. p. A3 – via Newspapers.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Evelyn Wells
Mayor of Lynwood