Hundreds Mourn First Black to Lead Major City
To the soulful jazz of fellow District of Columbia native Duke Ellington, hundreds mourned Walter E. Washington, a slave’s great-grandson, who became the first black person to lead a major U.S. city.
Members of Congress were among more than 700 people paying their respects at the National Cathedral.
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Washington mayor in 1967.
Seven years later, he became the first elected mayor in the national capital in more than 100 years. Washington was 88 when he died last week. He was buried in Maryland.
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