By Myeah Taylor, Mississippi University for Women
I had the opportunity to have a brief phone interview with the city of Aliceville’s recently elected mayor, Terrance Windham. He is a resident of Aliceville, Alabama, and an alumnus of Aliceville High School. He has many roles in his life, including husband, father of two, reverend, and now mayor. He also works at his family-owned funeral service, Lavender Funeral Home. This interview stemmed from my question, “Why did you want to become mayor?” From our conversation, I found some interesting things along the way.
In response to my question, he replied, “If I am going to live in Aliceville, I want to do something that would make the community better.” He said as mayor, and he could “offer a new direction to the city.” When finding out he had won the election, he felt “relieved” that he did not have to go through a run-off election and knew he “had to put in work to get things done.”
Before he was elected mayor, he was part of the City Council. Even then, he was working to make the community better. In 2018, he worked with the SGA students at Aliceville High School to get the youth involved in helping the community grow into something better from their perspective. As a result, a group was created called the Aliceville Junior City Council (AJCC). Unfortunately, a few roadblocks stopped the club from continuing these past years, but he hopes to restart and continue the AJCC this fall.
During a visit to the city hall, I saw a wall of the previous mayors of Aliceville, and I did not notice anyone Black besides Ms. Marva Gipson, so I asked recently elected Mayor Windham if he was the only Black male ever elected mayor in Aliceville? Though he was not the first Black person to become mayor because the seat was held before by Marva Gipson, who won by default. He is, indeed, the first Black male to hold the office seat. With that, he is also the youngest person to become mayor in the City of Aliceville. He is also one of the youngest mayors in Alabama. In the past nine months, Mayor Windham has been working to improve the community by bringing in more jobs and providing younger citizens with the skills needed to work those jobs. He has also been working to restore youth programs like soccer, as well as others. He is ready to change the city for the better. I was honored that he took the time to speak with me. I learned a lot about him, his vision, and the City of Aliceville, and I am inspired to continue building my future and achieving my dreams, knowing that anything is possible.
