Lionel Wilson (politician)

Lionel J. Wilson (March 14, 1915 – February 23, 1998) was an African American political figure and a member of the Democratic Party. He was the first African American mayor of Oakland, California, serving three terms as mayor of Oakland from 1977 until 1991.

He attended UC Berkeley.

He lost the 1990 mayoral election to Elihu Harris after making an expensive and unsuccessful bid to return the then Los Angeles Raiders to Oakland.

Wilson was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He, along with Allen Broussard, was also part of the coterie that used to gather at the pharmacy of William Byron Rumford, another important African American in Northern California politics.

Before his election as Oakland's mayor, Wilson served as presiding judge of the Alameda County Superior Court.

Prior to his involvement in politics, Wilson was a professional baseball player. In 1946, he pitched for the Oakland Larks as part of the short-lived West Coast Negro Baseball League.

In 2002, Aspire Public Schools founded a small 6-12 grade school called Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy in Oakland. The high school located in Oakland was named after Lionel Wilson in his honor. Lionel Wilson as a show of respect has a large portrait located inside of the school. Also, at Oakland International Airport in Oakland, Terminal 2, which basically houses Southwest Airlines and their airplane flights, is named after Lionel J. Wilson. The official name of the terminal is called the Lionel J. Wilson Terminal.

Lionel Wilson died on February 23, 1998 of cancer; he was 82.