Floyd Adams Jr. made history as the first African American to be elected mayor of Savannah, Georgia’s oldest city. Adams was born on May 11, 1945, to Floyd “Pressboy” Adams, Sr., and Wilhelmina Anderson Adams, founders of The Herald Newspaper and Printing Company, a weekly newspaper covering Savannah’s African American community. The couple had three other children: Jacquelyn, Carl, and Lincoln Adams.
Adams graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School in 1964 and then enrolled in Armstrong College, now University. He was one of the first Black students to attend the College and received a Bachelor of Science degree in business in 1968. After graduation, he worked at the family’s newspaper as Editor-in-Chief. Remaining with the newspaper, he became the publisher and president in 1983. His political career began in 1928 when was elected Alderman for District One of the City of Savannah. Ten years later, in 1992, he was elected Alderman at Large Post One. Adams also served as Mayor Pro Tempore from 1992 to 1995. Throughout his career, Adams was a staunch advocate for the African American community, overseeing numerous significant projects that aimed to uplift and empower underserved neighborhoods like the historically African American Cuyler Brownsville area as well as the Benjamin Van Clark and Ashley Midtown neighborhoods.
In 1995, Adams ran for mayor against several candidates, including Susan Weiner, who had served as chairwoman of Savannah’s Private Industry Council and was Savannah’s first woman mayor and the second Jewish mayor. While Weiner had 39 percent of the vote and Adams received 37 percent, under Georgia’s law, a candidate must garner a majority vote to take office. Therefore, with a runoff election, Adam defeated the incumbent by a scant 256 votes, thus being the first African American to hold the post and Savannah’s 63rd mayor. Adams ran unopposed for a second term in 1999 and stayed in office through 2003.
During Adams’ tenure as mayor he oversaw numerous significant projects including a $100 million in the redevelopment of underserved neighborhoods like the historically African American Cuyler Brownsville as well as Benjamin Van Clark and Ashley Midtown. In addition, he presided over the annexation of the Westside and Southside to increase Savannah’s land area by 40 percent and broaden the community’s tax base. Five years later, in 2008, Adams was elected to the Savannah-Chatham County school board seat. However, he stepped down from the second term in 2011.
Floyd Adams Jr. was a husband to Deborah Adams and a father to Kenneth Adams and Khristi Adams Chisholm. He passed away at the Candler Hospital in Savannah on February 1, 2014, at the age of 68.
