Alney Dale Danks Jr. (August 27, 1939 – June 9, 2021) was an American attorney who served as the mayor of

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

, from 1977 to 1989.

Biography

Alney Dale Danks Jr. was born on August 27, 1939, in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, to Alney Dale Danks Sr. and Elizabeth Ross. When Danks was 3, his family moved to Alabama. In 1954, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from

Murrah High School Murrah High School is a public high school located in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. It is a part of the Jackson Public School District. History Prior to desegregation in the 1960s, the school was majority white. Donna Ladd, in an article i ...

and enrolled in

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webster M ...

in 1957. In June 1959, he dropped out of

and married Carolyn Carl. In 1963, he graduated law school at the Jackson School of Law and was admitted to the bar.

Political career

In 1965, Danks first ran for city commissioner as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and lost. He ran for becoming the

Hinds County Hinds County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. With its county seats ( Raymond and the state's capital, Jackson), Hinds is the most populous county in Mississippi with a 2020 census population of 227,742 residents. Hinds Cou ...

prosecutor in 1968 and lost. However, he won the election to become the Hinds County prosecutor in 1972. In 1977, he ran for the mayor office of Jackson, Mississippi as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, beating Republican candidate

Doug Shanks Douglas William Shanks (October 25, 1946 - September 4, 2023) was an American college baseball coach. He was a city commissioner of Jackson, Mississippi and was on their city council.MS Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 596 https://da.mdah.ms.gov/ ...

. He won re-election in 1981. Starting in 1985, he became the first mayor of the city under mayor-council form. Danks stopped being the mayor of Jackson in 1989, when he lost in a runoff election to

J. Kane Ditto John Kane Ditto (born May 18, 1944) is an American politician and formerly the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi. He was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ditto, a Democrat, served as Mayor of the City of Jackson from July 3, 1989 until July 1997. D ...

Later life

He then returned to practicing law. After 1989, he was appointed as a municipal judge in Madison, Mississippi. In 2004, he formed a law firm with attorney Michael Cory, named "Danks, Miller & Cory". In 2005, he served on the transition team of mayor

Frank Melton Frank Ervin Melton (March 19, 1949 – May 7, 2009) was the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, United States, from 4 July 2005 until his death on 7 May 2009. Melton, an African American, defeated the city's first black mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr ...

. Danks died of complications from a stroke on June 9, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danks, Dale 1939 births 2021 deaths Mayors of Jackson, Mississippi Politicians from Miami Millsaps College alumni Mississippi College School of Law alumni Mississippi lawyers Mississippi Democrats Mississippi Republicans