Yvonne L. Rayford Brown (September 8, 1952 – April 23, 2012) was an American politician and member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

from the state of Mississippi. She was elected as Mayor of Tchula, serving two terms from 2001 to 2009. This small town is in Holmes County on the eastern edge of the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

. She was also the Republican nominee for

Mississippi's 2nd congressional district Mississippi's 2nd congressional district (MS-2) covers much of Western Mississippi. It includes most of Jackson, the riverfront cities of Greenville and Vicksburg and the interior market cities of Clarksdale, Greenwood and Clinton. The distr ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in the 2006 mid-term elections. She was notable for being the first female black Republican mayor in the state of Mississippi and the first in the entire United States, according to several sources.Jul 14, 2002, Delta Democrat Times
Yvonne Brown's politics grounded in Scripture
Retrieved Sept. 24, 2014, "...''the first'' African-American female Republican to be elected mayor -- ... also the United States..."

Early life

Yvonne L. Rayford was born in 1952 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

to Hilda and Bennie Rayford. She had sisters LaVonne "Pye" and Gail Rayford. The family moved to

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, where her parents worked as teachers in the Toledo public school system. After she graduated from Rogers High School, the family moved back to her parents' native Mississippi. Her father had been active in 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 ...

and worked as a local co-ordinator for

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

's 1984 presidential campaign. He was not well received by local Democrats when he returned to Mississippi and changed parties, becoming a Republican. Yvonne also became a Republican. Yvonne Rayford first married Russell Barnett. Later they divorced.

Career

Barnett worked for Monroe Auto Equipment in

Monroe County, Mississippi Monroe County is a county on the northeast border of the U.S. state of Mississippi next to Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population was 36,989. Its county seat is Aberdeen. History The county is named in honor of James Monroe, the fift ...

, Irvin Automotive in

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth C ...

and Pharmacy Corporation of America. She moved to Tchula in 1995, where she married again to Robert Brown. She and her husband lived in an abandoned grocery store, which was used partly as a meeting space for her husband's ministry. Together they co-founded the Grace Community Church in Tchula. Yvonne Brown became involved in politics by being part of a "ministerial duo" with her husband, leading efforts to rehabilitate homes, conduct Bible clubs in back yards, volunteer at a food bank, minister to the elderly, and hold free classes and clinics. In June 2001, Yvonne Rayford Brown was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Tchula, a black-majority town that is 99% Democratic. She won the election, defeating the Democratic incumbent and receiving national media attention as the first female black Republican mayor in the United States. As mayor, she won a stimulus package grant of $5 million from Washington for her town which she used, in part, to build a municipal complex. She also used federal funding for water, sewer and street construction and built or improved recreational facilities. As mayor, she earned a salary of $6,000 per year. She served as a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in 2004 and was re-elected mayor in 2005. Brown was the Republican nominee for

National Atla
Electoral map
/ref> in the

in the 2006 mid-term elections. She was unopposed in the Republican primary and faced Democratic incumbent

Bennie Thompson Bennie Gordon Thompson (born January 28, 1948) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Thompson has been the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security since 2019 and from ...

in the general election, losing to the longtime congressman by 100,160 votes (64.27%) to 55,672 (35.73%).

Death

After leaving office in 2009, Brown worked as the Lowndes County Director of the

Mississippi Department of Human Services The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) is a state agency of Mississippi, headquartered in Jackson. The department operates the state's family services. Division of Youth Services The Division of Youth Services (DYS) operates juvenile c ...

. She was diagnosed with cancer in February 2011 and resigned a few months later. She died in April 2012, aged 59. She was survived by her mother (her father died in 2010), her sisters LaVonne "Pye" Rayford Chestang and Gail Rayford Ambeau, and her daughters Nichole and Aliya Barnett.

References

External links

Official campaign website
archived via the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Yvonne African-American women in politics African-American mayors in Mississippi Women mayors of places in Mississippi Mayors of places in Mississippi Mississippi Republicans Women in Mississippi politics People from Tchula, Mississippi 1952 births 2012 deaths Candidates in the 2006 United States elections 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women