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Chokwe Antar Lumumba was sworn in this past July as Jackson, Mississippi’s youngest mayor. Lumumba followed in the footsteps of his late father, Chokwe Lumumba, carrying on the family legacy with a hopeful message for the people.

Lumumba, 34, mirrored his father’s career path. The Tuskegee University graduate became an attorney like his dad, graduating with his law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.

Lumumba announced his run for the mayoral seat in 2016 on Malcolm X’s birthday, running on a populist platform that was aimed to empower Jackson residents across the board. While Lumumba has been painted as a leftist in the vein of his father, who was a member of the Republic of New Afrika, he has largely moved his message to the middle.

Shortly after his father’s 2014 death, Lumumba, himself a new father at the time with his wife, Ebony, sought the vacated seat but came up short. In his emotional July acceptance speech, he noted that his father’s spirit guided him and that he’d  focus on bringing change to the city.

One of Mayor Lumumba’s first priorities is to finish his father’s initial mission to repair Jackson’s crumbling infrastructure. He also intends to build a true populist spirit by appointing “people’s committees” to address the needs of the city, much like his father aimed to do but was unable to due to  illness.

Mayor Lumumba and Ebony Lumumba are the proud parents of a daughter.

PHOTO: Chokwe Lumumba//Twitter

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Little Known Black History Fact: Chokwe Lumumba  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com