Ferguson, Missouri, the city where protests helped propel the Black Lives Matter movement into a nationwide crusade, elected its first Black mayor Tuesday night. Ella Jones will also be the city’s first female mayor
Ferguson, Missouri, the city where protests helped propel the Black Lives Matter movement into a nationwide crusade, elected its first Black mayor Tuesday night.
Ella Jones will also be the city’s first female mayor. The St. Louis County Board of Elections confirmed the news of her win with the St. Louis Dispatch, reporting that she secured 54% of the vote. Her success in Tuesday’s election marks the second time Jones broke down barriers in her local government. In 2015, she became the first Black woman to serve on the Ferguson City Council. Despite the Black community making up nearly 70% of Ferguson’s population, the city’s government and police force were largely white at the time.
“So, being the first African American woman, what does that mean? That means I’ve got work to do,” Jones said in a video posted Tuesday night by St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jason Rosenbaum. “Because when you’re an African-American woman, they require more of you than they require of my counterpart. And I know the people in Ferguson are ready to stabilize their community, and we’re going to work together to get it done.
Jones joined the city government just months after the 2014 death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager gunned down by a white police officer. His death sparked nationwide protests over police brutality and helped put the Black Lives Matter movement on the map. Her campaign largely focused on raising property values in Ferguson and attracting new homeowners.Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
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Ferguson Elects First Black And Woman Mayor In Its HistoryI am a breaking news reporter for Forbes in London, covering Europe and the U.S. Previously I was a news reporter for HuffPost UK, the Press Association and a night reporter at the Guardian. I studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, where I was a writer and editor for one of the university’s global affairs magazines, the London Globalist. That led me to Goldsmiths, University of London, where I completed my M.A. in Journalism. Got a story? Get in touch at isabel.togohforbes.com, or follow me on Twitter bissieness. I look forward to hearing from you.
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