Lionel Joseph Wilson (March 14, 1915 – January 23, 1998) was an American

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. He was the first black mayor of

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, serving three terms as

mayor of Oakland The city of Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of t ...

from 1977 until 1991.

Biography

Born March 14, 1915, Wilson was the eldest of eight children of Louise Barrios and Julius Wilson in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. By 1920, the family had moved to Oakland, California, where his father worked as a plasterer in building construction. Wilson was educated in the public schools, and in 1932 graduated from

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, opera ...

. Wilson attended

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

, graduating with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in economics in 1939. During 1939 to 1943, he was a semi-professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player, pitching for the

Oakland Larks The Oakland Larks were a Negro league baseball team in the West Coast Negro Baseball League, based in Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the ...

club as part of the short-lived

West Coast Negro Baseball League The West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA) was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The WCNBA was organized as a minor league in 1946 by Abe Saperstein and Jesse Owens as a mea ...

. On January 4, 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he enlisted in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Sargeant. After his discharge, he continued his studies at

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a Public university, public Law school in the United States, law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the ...

, receiving his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1949. In January 1950, he was admitted to the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

and began a private practice with George Vaughns. In 1953 and 1955, Wilson ran for the

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

City Council. He then formed the law firm Wilson, Metoyer & Sweeney (later joined by Allen Broussard). In 1961, Governor

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...

appointed Wilson a judge of the Alameda County Municipal Court (becoming the first African American judge in California), and then in 1964 Brown elevated Wilson to serve as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court. In 1962, he joined the Metropolitan Oakland YMCA's Board of Directors. In 1977, Wilson won the election for mayor of Oakland, defeating Oakland school board president, Dave Tucker. While mayor, Wilson addressed development in downtown Oakland, including extension of

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...

to the city, and one natural disaster: the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...

. He lost the 1990 mayoral election to

Elihu Harris Elihu Mason Harris (born August 15, 1947) is a retired American politician and college administrator. A member of the Democratic Party, Harris served as the 46th Mayor of Oakland, California from 1991 to 1999; he previously served for 12 years ...

after making an expensive and unsuccessful bid to return the then

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

. In 1991, Wilson nominated himself to serve on the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners, being appointed by the Oakland City Council after losing his mayoral bid. He served on the port commission for a year, working under his appointee and then-President

Carole Ward Allen Carole Ward Allen is an American politician, professor, and political consultant. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and serves as the chief executive officer of CWA Partners, LLC. As a mass transportation executive in the State of Californ ...

of the board of port commissioners.

had him removed from the port in 1992. Wilson was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. He, along with

Allen Broussard Allen Edgar Broussard (April 13, 1929 – November 5, 1996) was an American attorney who rose to become an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from July 22, 1981, to August 31, 1991. Biography Broussard was born in Lake Charles ...

, was also part of the coterie that used to gather at the

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

William Byron Rumford William Byron Rumford (February 2, 1908 – June 12, 1986) was an American pharmacist and politician. He was the first African American elected to a state public office in Northern California. Family background Rumford was born in Courtland ...

, another important

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

politics. Lionel Wilson died on January 23, 1998 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

; he was 82.

Honors and legacy

The office building at 150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, called the Broadway Building (formerly the First National Bank Building), is named in his honor. In 2002, Aspire Public Schools founded a small 6-12 grade school called "Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy" in Oakland. Also, at

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

, Terminal 2, which houses

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

and their airplane flights, is named the "Lionel J. Wilson Terminal."

Personal life

Wilson married twice. With his first wife, Gloria, he had three sons: Steve, and twins Robin and Lionel. On August 12, 1950, he remarried to Dorothy P. McGuinness in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. His brothers include Harold, Kermit, Julius and Warren Barrios Wilson, who was also an attorney in Oakland.

References

External links

Lionel J. Wilson collection
Oakland Museum of California.
Guide to the Lionel J. Wilson collection
African American Museum and Library, Oakland Public Library. Online Archive of California.
Lionel J. Wilson
Oakland Local Wiki. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Lionel African-American judges African-American mayors in California 1915 births 1998 deaths Mayors of Oakland, California California state court judges Superior court judges in the United States African-American lawyers American jurists UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of California, Hastings College of the Law alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Deaths from cancer in California Oakland Larks players 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American judges 20th-century American politicians

Biography

Honors and legacy

Personal life

See also

References

External links