Irma Louise Anderson ( Husbands; January 18, 1931 – January 28, 2024) was an American politician who was the elected mayor of the city of

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 3, 1905, and has a Richmond, California, City Council, city council.

, serving between 2001 and 2006. She ran for re-election as the incumbent Democrat in the 2006 mayoral race and lost to

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

challenger councilperson Gayle McLaughlin by 192 votes. Before serving as mayor she was a member of the city council from 1993 through 2000. She was the first black woman to serve on the Richmond city council''Contra Costa Times'' profile
December 18, 2006. and arguably claimed to be the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

elected mayor of a major

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

city (although Doris A. Davis served as mayor of slightly smaller

Compton, California Compton is a city located in the Gateway Cities region of southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county, and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth ci ...

in 1973)."Woman, 70, wins Richmond race"
San Francisco Chronicle via sfgate.com, November 8, 2001; retrieved December 12, 2011. Anderson, born and raised in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, was her high school class

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

. She earned both RN and BSN degrees from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. She also earned an MPH at the school of public health of

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. In 1954, Anderson came to Richmond, California, with her husband, the late Rev. Booker T. Anderson Jr. (who served as Mayor of Richmond from 1973 to 1974). The couple had two sons, Ahmad and Wilbert. Ahmad ran for Richmond City Council in 2020. Her career changed from nursing to politics working for the

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

Health Department where she began as a nurse and advanced to Director of Public Health Nursing. As mayor, Anderson worked with the

West Contra Costa Unified School District The West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD; formerly known as Richmond School District) is the school district for western Contra Costa County, California. It is based in Richmond, California. In addition to Richmond, the district ...

developing after-school programs throughout the city of Richmond. Anderson died from pancreatic cancer at her home in Richmond, on January 28, 2024, at the age of 93.

References

External links

Richmond City CouncilU.S. Conference of Mayors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Irma A. 1931 births Politicians from Boston 2024 deaths Cornell University alumni Mayors of Richmond, California Richmond City Council members (California) Women mayors of places in California African-American mayors in California African-American nurses American nurses American women nurses UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumni 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century mayors of places in California 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians African-American women mayors Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California 20th-century California politicians

See also

References

External links