Clarence Everett Lightner was an American politician and mortician.
38 Facts About Clarence Lightner
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Clarence Lightner was the first popularly elected Mayor of Raleigh since 1947, and the first African American elected mayor of a mostly-white, major Southern city in the United States.
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Clarence Lightner attended North Carolina Central College, where he played as a quarterback on the school football team.
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Clarence Lightner subsequently enrolled in the Echols College of Mortuary Science, and in 1959 he assumed control of his father Calvin E Lightner's funeral home.
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Clarence Lightner was elected to the Raleigh City Council in 1967.
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Clarence Lightner's reputation suffered as a result, and he placed last in the mayoral primary election in 1975.
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Clarence Lightner chaired the Southeast Raleigh Improvement Commission from 1993 to 2001.
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Clarence Everett Lightner was born on August 15,1921, in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Mammie Blackmon and Calvin E Lightner.
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Calvin Clarence Lightner founded the Clarence Lightner Funeral Home in 1911 and made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Raleigh City Council in 1919.
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Clarence Lightner attended public schools in Raleigh, and spent much of his free time in high school assisting his father in the funeral home.
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Clarence Lightner subsequently enrolled in the Echols College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Clarence Lightner aspired to become a physician and did not intend on assuming control over his father's business.
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Clarence Lightner later served as president of the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association and chaired the National Life Membership Foundation of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
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Clarence Lightner was a member of the National Business League and worked as an official for the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
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Clarence Lightner met Marguerite Massey while studying at North Carolina Central College.
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Clarence Lightner was a parishioner at Davie Street Presbyterian Church, and served on its Men's Council.
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Clarence Lightner was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Democratic Party, and held moderate political views.
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Clarence Lightner was a member of the "Oval Table Gang", an informal group of community leaders that met in Ralph Campbell Sr.
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Clarence Lightner was elected to the Raleigh City Council in 1967, thus becoming the second black person to serve on the body.
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Clarence Lightner supported a proposal by community activists to change the election method of city council seats from an at-large model to a district system; it was later implemented after a referendum.
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In 1973 Clarence Lightner announced his candidacy for the office of Mayor of Raleigh.
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Clarence Lightner characterized Williams as a lobbyist for Raleigh's business interests.
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Clarence Lightner hoped that instituting the councils would make it easier for Raleigh to earn block grants from the federal government, but this did not occur.
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On November 26,1974, Marguerite Clarence Lightner was arrested for conspiracy to receive stolen goods; prosecutors announced they had no intentions of charging the mayor.
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Clarence Lightner was criticized for refusing to comment publicly on the case.
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Clarence Lightner was ultimately acquitted, but in July 1975 Lightner's son, Lawrence, was found in contempt of court after allegedly making obscene gestures to a judge.
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Jyles Coggins won the primary, and Clarence Lightner placed last with only 5,644 votes.
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Clarence Lightner was sworn in on August 9 and served the remainder of Winters' term through 1978.
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Three years later Clarence Lightner served as general chairman of the Raleigh chapter of the United Negro College Fund.
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Clarence Lightner eventually rose to serve as co-chairman of the state section of the campaign.
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In 1986 Clarence Lightner served as co-chair of Terry Sanford's US Senate campaign.
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Clarence Lightner served as chairman of the Southeast Raleigh Improvement Commission from 1993 to 2001, where he led a study of economic development, implemented the Small Business Success Program, and created an incubation program for small businesses.
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Clarence Lightner attended the 1972,1976,1980,1984,1988,1992,1996 and 2000 Democratic National Conventions as a delegate.
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Clarence Lightner died at about 11:30 on July 8,2002, at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh after suffering from a long illness.
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In May 1974 Clarence Lightner awarded an honorary doctoral degree from North Carolina Central University.
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Clarence Lightner was inducted into the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame and North Carolina Central University's Alex M Rivera Athletics Hall of Fame in recognition of his football career.
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Clarence Lightner's name was added to the list of local activists honored on the Martin Luther King Water Monument, located in the Martin Luther King Jr.
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In 2009 Clarence Lightner was inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame.