Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. (born August 19, 1938) is a former
Mayor of Philadelphia
The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Jim Kenney.
History
The first mayor of Philadelphia, ...
and the first
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 ...
to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the controversial
MOVE
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
police action and
house bombing in 1985. Goode was also a community activist, chair of the state Public Utility Commission, and managing director for the City of Philadelphia.
Early life
Goode was born into a family of
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
s near
Seaboard, North Carolina
Seaboard is a township in Northampton County, North Carolina, United States, created as a company town by the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, approximately 10 miles northeast of Weldon in the mid-1840s as a place for railroad employees to live.
T ...
. His family arrived in Philadelphia in 1953 and lived in the
Paschall neighborhood in
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
. He was an honors student at
John Bartram High School
John Bartram High School is a public secondary school serving neighborhoods of the Southwest Philadelphia area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the School District of Philadelphia.
History
O ...
and then he graduated from
Morgan State University
Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...
in 1961. He was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps while attending Morgan State and entered the
US 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 ...
as a First Lieutenant in the military police. He returned to Philadelphia and briefly worked as a manager at a building maintenance firm and as an insurance adjuster before he was hired by the Philadelphia Council for Community Development in 1967. He became executive director of PCCD in 1971. In 1967 he and his wife bought a house in the Paschall neighborhood, where he served as a deacon of Paschall's First Baptist Church. In 1968, he completed his graduate studies at the
Fels Institute of Government
The Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania is a graduate school of public policy and public management. Founded in 1937 by Samuel Simeon Fels of the Fels Naptha Soap Company, the Fel Institute prepares its students for pub ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
where he earned his master's in Public Administration.
Service with the Public Utility Commission
After African-American state senators complained that there had never been an African-American member of the state Public Utility Commission (PUC),
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Milton Shapp
Milton Jerrold Shapp (born Milton Jerrold Shapiro; June 25, 1912 – November 24, 1994) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 40th governor of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. H ...
began actively searching for one. His aide, Terry Dellmuth, knew Goode from his community and political activities and recommended him.
As a PUC commissioner, Goode met with community groups around the state, studied relevant issues, compiled what was seen as a pro-consumer record, and forged good working relations with his fellow commissioners. He was soon elevated to the chairmanship of the PUC, where he continued his pro-consumer policies but worked to limit PUC expenditures.
Work in the Office of the Mayor
Philadelphia Mayor
Bill Green, who had been elected in November 1979, had promised to appoint a black managing director after winning a racially divisive
Democratic primary against former deputy mayor Charles Bowser. Green kept his promise by appointing Goode as managing director at the urging of key members of the black community.
Mayor of Philadelphia
Before the primary election of
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
, Green decided not to seek re-election. Goode jumped into the race and defeated former Mayor
Frank Rizzo
Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as Philadelphia police commissioner from 1968 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democr ...
in a racially polarized primary election. Goode went on to win the general election over former Green fund-raiser and
Philadelphia Stock Exchange
Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), now known as Nasdaq PHLX, is the first stock exchange established in the United States and the oldest stock exchange in the nation. The exchange is owned by Nasdaq, which acquired it in 2007 for $652 million, a ...
Chairman John Egan, the
Republican Party nominee.
Goode's tenure as mayor was marred in 1985 by the
MOVE Bombing, in which police attempted to clear a building in
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
inhabited by
MOVE
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
, a radical back-to-nature group, whose members, under the leadership of founder
John Africa
John Africa (July 26, 1931 – May 13, 1985), born Vincent Leaphart, was the founder of MOVE, a Philadelphia-based, predominantly black organization active from the early 1970s and still active. He and his followers were killed at a residential ...
, had long defied city officials by yelling slogans and statements from a megaphone, ignoring city sanitation codes, assaulting neighbors, and resisting law enforcement officers. During the attempt to evacuate the compound, police used tear gas, leading to members of MOVE opening fire on them. During
the final assault on the building, the police dropped an improvised bomb made of
C-4 plastic explosive and
Tovex
Tovex (also known as Trenchrite, Seismogel, and Seismopac) is a water-gel explosive composed of ammonium nitrate and methylammonium nitrate that has several advantages over traditional dynamite, including lower toxicity and safer manufacture, tr ...
, an explosive gel used in underwater mining, onto to a bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the building. This caused the house to catch fire, and ignited a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost 4 city blocks, killed 11 people, and left 240 people homeless.
In
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
Goode ran for re-election, winning the Democratic primary before facing off in the general election against former mayor Frank Rizzo, who had converted to the Republican Party after losing the 1983 Democratic primary to Goode. Goode defeated Rizzo 51%-49% to earn a second term.
Post-mayoral life
Goode stayed active after leaving office as mayor by holding a position in the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
. He earned a
Doctor of Ministry The Doctor of Ministry (abbreviated DMin or D.Min.) is a professional doctorate, often including a research component, that may be earned by a minister of religion while concurrently engaged in some form of ministry. It is categorized as an advanced ...
at
Palmer Theological Seminary
Palmer Theological Seminary is a Baptist seminary in St. Davids. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. It was founded in 1925 as Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Its parent institution is Eastern University.
History
The ...
,
and became a minister and professor at
Eastern University, as well as a leader of advocacy for faith-based initiatives. He currently serves as CEO of
Amachi, a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents. He was awarded the Purpose Prize, a $100,000 award given to exceptional individuals over age 60 who are working to address critical social problems.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goode, Wilson
1938 births
20th-century African-American politicians
21st-century African-American people
African-American mayors in Pennsylvania
Eastern University (United States)
Fels Institute of Government alumni
John Bartram High School alumni
Living people
Mayors of Philadelphia
Morgan State University alumni
Palmer Theological Seminary alumni
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Seaboard, North Carolina