Roderick V. Royal (born October 4, 1965) is a former Birmingham City Councilman who served as the President of the Birmingham City Council. Royal served for two months (November 2009-January 2010) as the 32nd

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

occupying the office in the absence of former mayor Larry Langford who was removed following a criminal conviction in a federal corruption case. Royal took over the post of acting mayor from

Carole Smitherman Carole Catlin Smitherman (born 1952) is a Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge. Smitherman served in 2009 as the 31st Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama and spent several years as a member of the City Council before resigning to assume her current judici ...

when he was installed as Council president by the newly seated City Council on November 24, 2009. His tenure as Mayor ended when Mayor

William A. Bell William A. Bell Sr. (born June 1, 1949) is an American politician who served as the 33rd mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, from 2010 to 2017. He had previously held the office on an interim basis in 1999. Prior to that, he had served several term ...

, took office on January 26, 2010. Royal was born and raised in Birmingham and held elected office early in life, as student council president at Carrie A. Tuggle Elementary School. He went on to hold the same position at

A. H. Parker High School A.H. Parker High School is a four-year public high school in Birmingham, Alabama. It is one of seven high schools in the Birmingham City School System and is named for longtime Birmingham educator Arthur Harold Parker. School colors are purple an ...

. Royal then earned a bachelor's degree in political science at

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

and a master's in public administration at

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs ...

Saint Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

. He later completed a law enforcement program at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

. During the first implementation of Birmingham's Community Participation Program, Royal served as a youth member of the Fountain Heights Neighborhood Association. He later was elected secretary of the East Thomas Neighborhood Association, serving two terms. Royal has been employed as a statewide coordinator for Job Corps, as an instructor at Miles College, as a police officer, and as an officer in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. Later he worked as a City Council assistant and served on several charitable boards. Royal was first elected to the Birmingham City Council in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005 and 2009. Among the initiatives he has developed are the securing of bond funds to extend sewer service to underserved communities, a program to provide breakfast bars to elementary school students, and a campaign for public-sponsored in-school dental care. Royal and his wife have three children.

References

1965 births Living people African-American mayors in Alabama United States Army personnel of the Gulf War Tuskegee University alumni Webster University alumni Mayors of Birmingham, Alabama United States Army officers 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people {{Alabama-mayor-stub