2022 can be a watershed for Black politics in Western Pa.
Ed Gainey is the first Black mayor of Pittsburgh. Summer Lee is the first Black woman elected to the state legislature from western Pennsylvania, and is expected to become the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.
These two leaders have blazed new trails for Black politicians in Pittsburgh — but they also exist within a distinguished and distinctive tradition of Black politics in western Pennsylvania. They are standing on the shoulders of earlier Black leaders who were the “first” in their time.
While Philadelphia has deeper roots of Black activism, even extending back to the antebellum period, Pittsburgh’s Black political history is shallower because Philadelphia
has always had a higher concentration of Black residents, and is closer to the economic and political centers of the East Coast. The first parents, roughly speaking, of the Pittsburgh Black political tradition appear on the scene in the early twentieth century: Homer S. Brown and Daisy E. Lampkin.
In an attempt to establish a strong Black political presence in Pittsburgh, Brown founded and became the first president of the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP in 1915. He served in this position for over two decades and won election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1934. Fifteen years later, he became the first African American judge in Allegheny County.
Working alongside Brown in the NAACP for a number of years, and ultimately becoming a member of its national board of directors, Lampkin earned the praises of leaders like Thurgood Marshall for her tireless work for civil and women’s rights. She served as vice president of the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the country’s largest Black-run newspapers. Lampkin’s civic and political involvement in Pittsburgh was so impactful that, in 1983, she became the first Black woman honored with a Pennsylvania historical marker.
While Brown made it to Harrisburg in 1934, it took 20 more years for the first Black man to be elected to Pittsburgh City Council. That man was Paul F. Jones, a civil rights champion who had fought against discrimination for years before becoming a councilman. He was also active in the NAACP, serving as the chairman of the
Black people make up nearly a quarter of Pittsburgh’s population, and many residents are wondering if Mr. Gainey’s and Ms. Lee’s political ascent will eventually translate into a better quality of life for Black residents.
LegalRedress Committee. His untimely death came in the sixth year of his service as councilman in 1960, and to honor him, the city named an overlook at Mount Washington after him.
K. Leroy Irvis graduatedfrom the University of Pittsburgh Law School in 1954, the same year Jones took office on Grant Street, which was also the same year as Brown v. Board of Education. In 1977, he became the first Black Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, making him the first Black person to be elected speaker of any state legislature since Reconstruction. He was elected to the House in 1958 and went on to be re-elected fourteen additional times. In May 2022, lawmakers across the state, including members of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, gathered to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Irvis’s election, naming the event the inaugural “K. LeroyIrvis Day of Action.”
Through it all, these Black leaders were inspired by the same vision: enhancing Black political empowerment in Pittsburgh and, in so going, improving the quality of life of all Pittsburghers across lines of race, gender and class.
It’s in this tradition of trailblazers that Mr. Gainey and Ms. Lee are now leading. And they know,like those who came before them, that their success does not always mean the battle is over. Pittsburgh’s Black political officials are still fighting on some of the same issues as their predecessors.
Black people make up nearly a quarter of Pittsburgh’s population, and many residents are wondering if Mr. Gainey’s and Ms. Lee’s political ascent will eventually translate into a better quality of life for Black residents — along with the rest of the population. The city is experiencing a stark decline in the number of Black residents over the past decade, a drop in the Black homeownership rate, and a disproportionately high maternal mortality rate among Black women.
That’s why Mr. Gainey isn’t just emphasizing the usual optimism about Pittsburgh’s transition from an industrial city to to a tech, health care and education leader. He doesn’t shy away from the unfinished business of economic inclusion, affordable housing, public health and safety, climate justice and highquality education.
Ms. Lee, as she prepares in all likelihood to represent the city in Washington, additionally emphasizes key issues of disability justice, repairing the immigration system and reproductive health, rights and justice.
Mr. Gainey and Ms. Lee don’t just share leadership roles; they also share personal histories. They were bothborn and raised in the Pittsburgh region in economically fragile households by single mothers. And then they both went to Historically Black Colleges: Morgan State University for the mayor and Howard University for the legislator. They are steeped both in this region’s culture and history, especially in the East End andthe Mon Valley, and in the traditions of Black communities, politics and education.
Today, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are home to a number of elected Black officials, including Rep. Aerion Andrew Abney, DManchester, Representative Martell Covington, DHomewood and Councilwoman Olivia “Liv” Bennett, D-Northview Heights. And the potential first Black Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, Austin Davis, can count on all of these leaders to cheer him on through November 8th.
While they don’t agree on every issue, they continue to carry on the tradition of Black politics in Pittsburgh: amplifying Black voices, empowering Black residents and working to improve the lives of every member of the community.