Douglas Dollarhide

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Douglas Dollarhide (c1923—) was the first African American mayor of a metropolitan city in California.

[edit] Biography

Douglas F. Dollarhide witnessed first hand the transformation of Compton, California from a predominantly white Los Angeles suburb into one of the most heavily concentrated African American communities in the United States. He was elected to the City Council in 1963, becoming its first African American member.

In 1969, Dollarhide made history again, when he became not only the first black mayor of Compton, but the first African American mayor of a major town in California since American rule.

Compton's Dollarhide Neighborhood Center is named after him.