Montgomery, Alabama, elected Tuesday the first black mayor in its history. A symbol for this southern US city that was briefly the Confederate capital during the American Civil War and the cradle of the civil rights struggle.
Democrat Steven Reed has won more than 67% of the votes against his opponent, owner of a local television channel, according to the results published by the local media. He will take office on 12 November.
The 45-year-old magistrate was one of the first judges in the state to issue marriage certificates to homosexual couples in 2015. His victory is a symbol for the city of 200,000 inhabitants, of whom 60 percent are black.
It was in Montgomery that the slave states had seceded in February 1861 and decided to form the Southern Confederation, whose city was the first capital. It has also been the birthplace of the black struggle for civil rights.
In 1955, the fining of Rosa Parks, who had refused to give her seat to a white man on a city bus, prompted young black Baptist minister Martin Luther King to launch a non-violent protest against the segregation.
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