Richard Gordon Hatcher became the first African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana, on January 1, 1968. He was also one of the first black mayors elected in a major northern industrial city and the first in the State of Indiana.  He remained in office for 5 terms and was defeated in 1987.  He was an international spokesman for civil rights, minorities, the poor and American cities.  Hatcher started his own consulting firm, R. Gordon Hatcher & Associates, in 1988, and he began teaching law at Valparaiso University in 1989.

Photo Courtesy of The Calumet Regional Archives