(13 Nov 2019) Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed was sworn in Tuesday as the capital city's first African American leader.
Reed took the oath of office after easily winning the mayoral runoff last month.
He is the first black mayor of a city that was the first capital of the Confederacy and later the birthplace of the civil rights movement.
In a nod to his history-making win, Reed said his inauguration was an event that the enslaved people once sold on the banks of the Alabama River just a few feet from his inauguration ceremony.
Reed replaced outgoing Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, who has served since 2009 and did not seek reelection.
Reed is the first black mayor of the city where Southern delegates voted to form the Confederacy in 1861.
The city also played a critical role in the civil rights movement.
Reed was already the first black probate judge elected in Montgomery County and was one of the first to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in the state.
His father, Joe Reed, is the longtime leader of the black caucus of the Alabama Democratic Party.
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