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Image Source: Office of Mayor Reed
Even in Montgomery, Alabama, which is known as “The Birthplace of Civil Rights,” Mayor Steven Reed stands out as a trailblazer.
In 2019, he became Montgomery’s first black mayor, an office he still holds, after serving as the city’s first black probate judge. Reed is aware of his place in history, but isn’t settling for becoming a footnote defined only by his race.
“The goal for us is not only to be the first black mayor, but to be the best mayor the city has ever had,” says Reed, 51, whose book on leadership is aptly titled “First, Best.”
Reed is well on his way, and the nation is taking notice. In 2024, the African American Mayors Association appointed him president of the national nonprofit organization. He has been featured on multiple national outlets praising his collaborative leadership during COVID-19 and for groundbreaking education programs that will likely be Reed’s lasting legacy on Montgomery.
Coy about future political ambitions, Reed acknowledges his growing spotlight has perks beyond notoriety. “It’s about getting in rooms that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to bring resources back to the city,” says Reed, one of 40 chief executives selected for the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. Reed also serves on the National League of Cities Reimagining Public Safety Task Force.
“It’s about having the opportunity to talk about what Montgomery is now and what we want to aspire to be, as opposed to what we were 60 and 70 years ago. It’s a matter of changing the narrative and inviting others outside to partner with us, to invest in our city and to invest in our people,” he adds.
If Reed has one regret, it’s that he didn’t run for mayor sooner so he could have made even more gains than he has during his six-year tenure. Perhaps the delay stems back to Reed being one of the last people to realize he was destined to lead his hometown.
Reed’s father, Joe, sat on the Montgomery City Council from 1975 to 1999. Joe Reed helped integrate Montgomery lunch counters and was so respected that he had the ear of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Ralph Abernathy.
“I told my parents I would never run for any of that,” says Steven Reed, who still receives plenty of advice from his parents. “I grew up here, never thinking I would be mayor.”
In fact, he left Montgomery for higher education. Reed earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Morehouse College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
That business acumen has served Reed well as he expertly maneuvers between corporations, entrepreneurs, philanthropic organizations, and other local leaders to form coalitions to help pass legislation previously unheard of.
Among Reed’s most stunning accomplishments was successfully passing the county’s first and only property tax, with the money earmarked to Montgomery’s schools.
“I thought our schools were underfunded,” Reed explains. “I still think they’re underfunded. But it was important for us to put that political capital to the test to focus on this issue. I think it’s a defining issue in my mayoral tenure.”
Image Source: Office of Mayor Reed
Reed chose his own path to serving the city, vying for probate judge rather than seeking a seat on the council where his father made his name. Prior to the election, Reed was endorsed by the late John Lewis, a Civil Rights leader who served 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in Georgia’s delegation.
Armed with Lewis’s approval, Reed made his historic run as probate judge. And in between this first and his historic mayoral run, Reed made other impactful moves. He was Alabama’s first probate judge to grant same-sex marriage licenses following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the unions.
“Somebody had to articulate and push for what was right on behalf of same-sex couples, but also other civil rights that could be violated,” he says. “It could be overturned if we didn’t say ‘enough.’ We had to be very strong, and we had to be very persuasive in our stance.”
As probate judge, he also served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Election Integrity Commission and initiated a statewide education campaign regarding laws that have been criticized for making it harder for black Americans to vote.
For these moves, Reed won fans and enemies.
“That brought me face-to-face with the white political establishment here, which wasn’t quite so ready for that,” he says. “It wasn’t necessarily willing to give up its grip on power, and fought and challenged us at every stop. Those things were revealed, too. But the good certainly outweighs the bad.”
Reed rose to mayor with a whopping 67 percent of the vote in 2019 and earned re-election in 2023.
Inspired by Montgomery’s history, Reed remains a champion for government, which became crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted individuals regardless of political affiliation or ethnic background. “My leadership style is collaborative, but it’s grounded in a philosophy that government can be used as an instrument to do good.”
He hopes to do more good. Montgomery has made progress from the start of the Civil Rights Era, but Reed isn’t satisfied. “[Change] happens, but only if you force it to or else it just kind of lingers out there as a theory,” he says.
