15 Iconic Newspaper Covers That Went Down in History

Young Elected City’s 1st Black Mayor

Long before Barack Obama made history as the first African-American president of the United States, Coleman Young was making headlines in Detroit when he was elected mayor as noted by this headline from the Detroit Free Press on November 6, 1973.

According to Michael Stauch, Ph.D., assistant professor at The University of Toledo’s Department of History, Young’s election signaled a turning point in several significant strands of U.S. history, including being an important goal of the Black Freedom Struggle.

“Alongside Coleman Young, African Americans at this time achieved executive office in some of the nation’s largest and most influential cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Newark, as well as in hundreds of smaller cities across the country,” Stauch tells Reader’s Digest.

Once in office, many of these elected officials participated in a second important area of U.S. history: police reform.

“Police reform was central to Young’s electoral success,” he says. “Once elected, Young quickly moved to introduce a series of reforms; among the most significant were an affirmative action hiring policy and a residency requirement for officers.”