Gilbert W. Lindsay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gilbert William Lindsay was born on December 28, 1900 in Mississippi, USA.

When Edward Roybal was elected to Congress in 1962, he suggested that a special election be held to replace him on the Los Angeles City Council. This idea was nixed by the City Council, who instead decided to appoint, Lindsay, an African American with ties to the influential Hahn family (including City Councilman Gordon Hahn), to fill the vacancy. This resulted in Lindsay becoming the first person of African descent to serve on the City Council in the modern era. At the same time, with the departure of Roybal and Charles Navarro (who was elected Los Angeles City Controller the year before), the City Council went from having two Latino members to none. Just a few months later, Lindsay was joined on the City Council by Tom Bradley and Billy G. Mills, bringing the total number of African American members to three. As of 2005, all three Council seats have been held only by African Americans since that time.

Lindsay would serve on the City Council until his death on November 11 , 1990.

[edit] Supplemental links

The Struggle for Latino Representation (article)

Preceded by Edward R. Roybal

'Los Angeles City Councilmen 9th district' 1963—1990

Succeeded by Rita Walters