Jones is also the first woman to lead the Missouri city, which erupted in protests in 2014 after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, a black teenager.
Ella Jones became the first African American and first woman elected mayor in Ferguson, MO, on Tuesday, June 3, 2020, nearly six years after the city erupted in protests when a white police officer shot and killed a black teenager Michael Brown, propelling Ferguson into the national spotlight and galvanizing the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Jones, a Ferguson City Council member, came as another night of protests unfolded throughout the country over the killing of George Floyd and persistent police brutality against black Americans.
In 2015, Jones became the first black woman elected to the City Council, and though she was critical of the city’s law enforcement system, she did not have enthusiastic backing from protesters at the time.
After losing her 2017 bid for mayor, Jones said that many black residents told her that they did not believe electing her would change their own fortunes and questioned whether she had accomplished anything in her two years on the City Council.
