Billy G. Mills, among first Black politicians elected to L.A. City Council, dies
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Set us as preferred Billy G.Mills, a civil rights leader who was among the first Black men to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, has died.Mills, 96, died on June 27 after struggling with declining health, his son, James Edward Mills, confirmed.
The elder statesman died peacefully at his home in Leimert Park, his son said.James, a journalist and founder of The Joy Trip Project, memorialized his father online, where he shared a photo of his father shaking hands with Rev.Martin Luther King Jr.
He said the image highlights “the significance of those who work behind the scenes of world events that shape our reality.”“He was the man who went to work every day.The man who expected his children to tell the truth, keep their word, and finish what they started,” he wrote of his father.
“He believed that integrity was something you practiced when no one was watching.”Mills worked as a civil rights lawyer before being elected to the L.A.City Council in 1963 to represent District 8, the same year Tom Bradley was elected to District 10.
They were the first two Black men elected to City Council, following behind Gilbert Lindsay, the first Black man appointed to fill Edward Roybal’s city council seat.Lindsay was also a close family friend, James said.James described his father as a humble man who remained active and engaged even after he left office.
As the youngest child, he heard stories over the years about his father’s impact and legacy.Only late in life did he learn his father officiated Muhammad Ali’s wedding.Before his father died in June, a man who had worked as a city parking attendant while his father worked in City Hall described Mills as “one of my favorite people there” after Mills came to his aid following an incident involving police officers.“There are a lot of people in Los Angeles that still...