On July 10, the area entered the history books when the mercury climbed to a blistering 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius) at Furnace Creek, California, breaking the record for the highest temperature ever recorded.
Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city: Black History Month. View full sizePlain Dealer file photoCarl Stokes, shown in 1968 in downtown Cleveland, focused many of his efforts as mayor on improving city services and helping Cleveland's poorest residents.
The first black mayor of a major U.S. city was Carl Stokes, a Democrat who was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio in 1967. Later that same year, Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, Indiana. This ushered in the first generation of black mayors in the US, and in the early 1970s major cities such as Detroit, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. all elected their first black mayors. The first black mayor of a major southern city was Maynard Jackson, also a Democrat, who was elected mayor of Atlanta, Georgia in 1973.