Representation does matter.

This is evident after Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott went viral with his official city picture highlighting his fresh fro and fade. Social media went crazy. Some users across various platforms called the photo “one of the Blackest haircuts in mayoral history.”

Across the country, more and more Black Americans are getting elected as mayors, especially Black women.

So, Travel Noire has rounded up a list of big cities where the mayors are Black:

Elected in 2017, Keisha Lance Bottoms is the 60th Mayor of Atlanta. Mayor Bottoms is the daughter of Sylvia Robinson and R&B icon Major Lance. 

The world watched as Mayor Bottoms took the national spotlight as a force to be reckoned with. She was named leader of the year for guiding the city through the onset of a devastating pandemic and civic unrest, all while dealing with a lawsuit from the state governor. She even caught the attention of President-elect Joe Biden, who considered her for a cabinet position.

Known for his unapologetic afro, Mayor Scott is the 52nd Mayor of Baltimore. Elected in 2019, Scott has his sights on ending gun violence, restoring the public’s trust in government, and changing Baltimore for the better.

Viola “Vi” Lyles is the 59th mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. Elected in 2017, Mayor Lyles is the first Black female mayor of Queen City.

“When I have little girls come to the office, moms bring them, and they say, ‘I just wanted her to meet an African American woman that’s the mayor of Charlotte,’ ” Mayor Lyles stated in a recent interview. “I always tell those little girls I may be the mayor, but you can be the governor, or you could be the president.”

Lori Lightfoot is the 56th mayor of Chicago. Mayor Lightfoot is the first LGBTQ mayor and first Black female mayor of Chicago.

Serving the Windy City since 2019 as mayor, she was the first openly lesbian candidate in the history of Chicago mayoral elections.

Mayor Eric Johnson was elected as the 60th mayor of Dallas in June 2019. He is the second African American mayor to be elected in Dallas history after former-mayor Ron Kirk.

He is one of the youngest mayors of a major American city. 

Mayor Michael Hancock is the 45th and current mayor of Denver. He has held the office since 2011.

Elected in December 2015 and overwhelmingly re-elected in December 2019, Mayor Sylvester Turner is serving his second four-year term. He is Houston’s 62nd mayor.

Since taking office, Mayor Turner has expertly managed significant challenges facing the nation’s fourth-largest city, including budget deficits, homelessness, and natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey.

Mayor Quinton Lucas was sworn in as the 55th mayor of Kansas City on Aug. 1, 2019. 

Known throughout KCMO as “Mayor Q,’ he has prioritized making Kansas City’s neighborhoods safer, creating more accessible and affordable housing and public transportation, fostering a healthier community and improving basic services.

Mayor Ras Baraka took office in 2014 as the 40th mayor of the City of Newark.

Mayor Baraka’s progressive approach to governing has won him accolades from grassroots organizations to the White House.

He graduated from Howard University, a published author and is well-regarded in the entertainment industry for his appearance on the Grammy-award winning album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in his authentic role as an educator, and for his EP “What We Want.”

Mayor LaToya Cantrell is the 62nd mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, an office she has held since May 7, 2018.

Mayor Cantrell is the first black woman to become the mayor of NOLA.

She has been recognized for her dedication to the community and was recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by the presidents of Tulane, Loyola, and Xavier for her relentless work in serving the community.

Mayor London Breed is the 45th mayor of San Francisco and the first African-American woman mayor in the city’s history.

Sworn in 2018, Breed is known for her work to end homelessness throughout the city. She announced plans early in her first-term, a goal to build 1,000 shelter beds by 2020. To do this, she introduced legislation declaring a shelter crisis in San Francisco, which allowed the city to waive certain permitting and contracting requirements for homeless services.

Mayor Melvin Carter is the 46th of Minnesota’s capital city St. Paul.

As the first African-American to hold the office in St. Paul, Mayor Carter leads with an unapologetic equity agenda.

Since taking office in 2018, his accomplishments include raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, eliminating late fines in public libraries, reestablishing an Affordable Housing Trust Fund; expanding immigrant and refugee support resources, and launching an Office of Financial Empowerment.

On Nov. 6, 2018, Muriel Bowser became the first woman ever re-elected as the Mayor of Washington, DC and the first mayor to earn a second term in 16 years.

As the eighth mayor in the District of Columbia, she is most notably known for defying the Trump Administration’s response to social unrests across the county by renaming the portion of 16th Street NW near the White House to “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”

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