Michael L. Thurmond (born 5 January 1953) is an American author, attorney and politician serving as the chief executive officer of
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County (, , ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,382, making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat is Decatur.
DeKalb County is inclu ...
. 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 ...
, he was previously a representative in the
Georgia Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
.
Thurmond served as the interim superintendent of the
DeKalb County School District
The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is a school district headquartered at 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, near Stone Mountain and in the Atlanta metropolitan area. DCSD operates ...
, the third largest district in the state of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
from 2013 to 2015. The district serves nearly 99,000 students with over 13,400 employees. Thurmond was the Democratic Party's nominee for
United States Senate in 2010. He was also one of the last Democrats to win statewide in Georgia until 2020, when
Joe Biden won the state in the
2020 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
**C ...
.
Prior to becoming DeKalb's Schools Superintendent, Thurmond was an attorney at Butler Wooten Cheeley & Peak LLP, a nationally known civil trial practice that has four times set the record civil jury verdict in the State of Georgia and also obtained for its client the largest collected judgment in U.S. history.
Early life
Thurmond was raised as a sharecropper's son in
Clarke County Clarke County may refer to:
;Places
*One of five counties in the United States:
**Clarke County, Alabama
**Clarke County, Georgia
**Clarke County, Iowa
**Clarke County, Mississippi
**Clarke County, Virginia
Clarke County is a county in the Com ...
, Georgia. He graduated ''cum laude'' with a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from
Paine College
Paine College is a private, historically black Methodist college in Augusta, Georgia. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Paine College offers undergraduate degrees in the liberal arts, bu ...
and later earned a Juris Doctor degree from the
University of South Carolina School of Law. He also completed the Political Executives program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
Political career
In 1986, he became the first African-American elected to the
Georgia General Assembly from Clarke County since
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
. During his legislative tenure, Thurmond authored major legislation that has provided more than $250 million in tax relief to Georgia's senior citizens and working families.
Following his legislative service, he led the state Division of Family and Children's Services and directed Georgia's historic transition from welfare to work. He created the innovative Work First program, which helped over 90,000 welfare-dependent Georgia families move from dependence into the workforce.
In 1997, Thurmond became a distinguished lecturer at the
University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
Carl Vinson Institute of Government
The Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG) is an organization that works closely with officials and employees from state and local governments in the U.S. state of Georgia and internationally to help them achieve their missions and improve pub ...
. The following year in November, he was elected Georgia Labor Commissioner, becoming the first non-incumbent African American to be elected to statewide office in Georgia.
During his three terms as commissioner, the Georgia Labor Department underwent a major transformation in customer service and efficiency. His Georgia Works program has earned national praise and bi-partisan support. President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
based part of the
American Jobs Act
The American Jobs Act () (H. Doc. 112-53) and (H.R. 12) was the informal name for a pair of bills recommended by U.S. President Barack Obama in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress on September 8, 2011. He characterized ...
after the Georgia Works model. Thurmond's most gratifying accomplishment as a public official was the construction of a $20 million school for young people with disabilities at the historic
Roosevelt Institute
The Roosevelt Institute is a liberal American think tank. According to the organization, it exists "to carry forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by developing progressive ideas and bold leadership in the service of re ...
in
Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 425 at the 2010 census.
History
Warm Springs, originally named Bullochville (after the Bulloch family, which began after Stephen Bullock moved to Meriwethe ...
.
In 2016, Thurmond decided to run for the open DeKalb County C.E.O.'s office being vacated by term-limited incumbent Democrat
Burrell Ellis
W. Burrell Ellis, Jr. is an American attorney and politician who is the former political director for the ACLU of Georgia, and the former CEO of DeKalb County, Georgia.
Early years
Ellis was born November 22, 1957, in Washington, D.C. and later ...
. He won overwhelmingly in the Democratic Primary, and went on to win by a significant margin over his Republican opponent in the November 2016 General Election. Thurmond began his four-year term on January 1, 2017.
He is the recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees from
Clark Atlanta University and
LaGrange College. Thurmond has also served as a motivational speaker to state school board associations in nine Southern states on issues regarding leadership, diversity, and public education advocacy in the 21st century.
He presently serves on the Board of Curators of the Georgia Historical Society.
U.S. Senate campaign
In April 2010, Thurmond announced his intention to run for the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
, challenging incumbent Republican
Johnny Isakson
John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019 as a member of the Republican Party. He represented in the United States ...
.
[AJC: Emotional Thurmond announces run for U.S. Senate](_blank)
/ref> He easily defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary, county employee RJ Hadley, on July 20. He lost the general election to Isakson and was succeeded as Commissioner of Labor by former state representative Mark Butler
Mark Christopher Butler (born 8 July 1970) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2007. He was a minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments and al ...
, a member of the Republican Party.
Publications
Thurmond's book, ''Freedom: Georgia's Antislavery Heritage, 1733-1865,'' was awarded the Georgia Historical Society
The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, examined, and tau ...
's Lilla Hawes Award. The Georgia Center for the Book listed ''Freedom'' on its 2005 list of The 25 Books All Georgians Should Read.[
]
Personal life
He is married to Zola Fletcher Thurmond, and they have one daughter, Mikaya Thurmond.
Notes
References
Michael L. Thurmond – Superintendent, DeKalb County School District
The History Makers
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurmond, Michael L.
1953 births
African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
Living people
State labor commissioners in the United States
Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
Paine College alumni
University of South Carolina School of Law alumni
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people