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Black History
SHREVEPORT
AFRO-AMERICAN FIRST
By: Willie Burton
Rev. William Hines
-- Shreveport’s
first black policeman.
Kenneth Harris -
first black to open a cleaning business in downtown Shreveport.
Dr. C.O. Simpkins
-- first black in
Shreveport
to run for political office
Attorney Willie
Singleton -- first black to run for mayor.
Dr. Brandwyn
Holliday -- the first black private practice pediatrician.
Ray W. Lester --
the first black realtor to significantly venture beyond the boundaries
of black-to-black sales and purchases in both black and white
communities.
Tahira Abdul-Rahman
-- the first black female to manage her own firm.
Dr. D.L. Jordan is
the first black optometrist in Shreveport.
Frank Williams --
the first black bank president.
Helen C. Godfrey --
the first Chief Executive Officer of the Shreveport Federal Credit
Union.
Roy Griggs -- the
first African-American owner/operator of a McDonald’s in the
Shreveport/Bossier market.
Leonard C. Barnes
-- the first football coach at Booker T. Washington, the first to have
the title of Chancellor at Southern University-Shreveport -- the first
Chancellor-Emeritus at SUSLA, and the first to have a high school
football stadium named after him.
Carl Stewart -- the
first black Federal Judge.
Kelvin Cochran --
the first black Fire Chief.
Patricia Dyas --
the first female to be promoted to the rank of captain and assistant
fire chief in
Shreveport.
Joyce Bowman - the
first black female president of the Caddo Parish Commission.
Mildren Pugh -- the
first black female president of the Caddo Parish School Board
Dr. E. Edward Jones
first black from Shreveport to be president of the National Baptist
Convention of America
Ollie Tyler -- the
first female and first black African-American Superintendent of the
Caddo Parish School Board.
Hilry Huckaby – the
first black elected to the Shreveport City Council.
Paul Lynch -- the
first black Caddo Parish District Judge.
Leleshia Walker-
Alford – the first black female to be elected as a Shreveport City
Judge.
Vernon
Claville – the first black elected as a Caddo Parish Juvenile Court
Judge.
Dr. E. E. Allen –
the first black elected to the Shreveport City Council.
Hersey Wilson – the
first black elected to the Caddo Parish Police Jury.
Shirley Wills – the
first black woman to be elected to a police jury in Louisiana (Caddo
Parish Policy Jury).
Ceasor C. Antoine –
first State Senator from Caddo (Reconstruction)
Gregory Tarver –
first State Senator from Caddo Parish since Reconstruction.
Alphonse Jackson –
first black State Representative since Reconstruction.
Willie Burton –
first black to write a comprehensive history of African-Americans in
the Shreveport/Bossier area as well as have some of his works
published by the “Shreveport Times.”
First black member
of the Caddo Parish School Board to serve concurrently as President of
the Caddo Parish School Board and Louisiana School Board Association
as well as three separate times as President of the Caddo Parish
School Board.
There are many
more “First” among African-Americans in Shreveport. This list is
only a fraction.
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