ATLANTA — Atlanta is celebrating a historic milestone made 50 years ago with the inauguration of the city's first Black mayor.
Mayor Andre Dickens and the city's former mayors gathered at City Hall on Monday to celebrate Maynard Jackson and his two consecutive terms in office and was elected for a third in 1990. Jackson created a legacy that Dickens and many city leaders were proud to follow.
"I want to live in those footsteps and to have all these mayors here shows that lineage and legacy and passing the torch still happens," Dickens said. "There is a blueprint that has been made. That you care about people, care about the growth of this city and make sure that you do it with the utmost integrity."
During his tenure, he offered more business opportunities for African Americans with the City of Atlanta, making him a champion for affirmative action and minority contracting. He also expanded the world's busiest airport, which was renamed in his honor.
"He put measures in place and policies that allowed minority contractors to have opportunities that have never been done. Now, that model has encompassed the entire world and the United States of America," Councilwoman Keisha Waites said.
Jackson's leadership sparked a groundbreaking demographic shift that changed the city's politics. Since his term, African Americans have consistently been elected mayor of Atlanta.
Although Jackson was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1938, he left an imprint behind in the Atlanta mayor's office for decades.
The current Atlanta mayor said that the event will be celebrated all year long.
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