CHESTER, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina city whose population is nearly two-thirds African American has elected its first ever all Black city council.
Chester voters elected four new members to City Council on Tuesday and once they were sworn in, all nine members of the city’s governing board were Black, The Herald of Rock Hill reported.
About 64% of Chester’s 5,400 people are Black. The city is several miles off Interstate 77 between Columbia and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Chester didn’t elect its first Black council member until 1987 and its first African American mayor in 1997, said Councilwoman Angela Douglas who is stepping aside.
The Chester City Council is made up of eight members — two from each of they city’s four wards — and the mayor.