Thirman Milner, who in 1981 became the first popularly elected Black mayor in New England, in Hartford, Conn., and went on to serve three terms, died on Nov. 29 at his home there. He was 91.
His death was confirmed by his stepdaughter Virginia Monteiro, the first vice chairwoman of the Connecticut and the Greater Hartford branches of the N.A.A.C.P.
The sixth of seven children of a widowed domestic worker who periodically depended on welfare, Mr. Milner dropped out of high school, joined the Air Force, earned an equivalency diploma and was studying at New York University to become a pharmacist when he heard the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak in New York City. He decided then to become a civil rights activist.
He traveled to the South to protest against racial segregation, then returned to Hartford, the state’s capital and one of the nation’s poorest cities at the time. There, he said, he discovered that discrimination against Black people was even worse. He grudgingly agreed to enter politics, serving two terms in the State Legislature before challenging Mayor George A. Athanson, Hartford’s flamboyant incumbent, who had served since 1971 and was seeking a sixth term.
Mr. Athanson won the 1981 Democratic mayoral primary by 94 votes. But Mr. Milner charged fraud, raising questions about absentee ballots and delays in opening a polling place in a Black neighborhood. A court ordered a new election. On the second try, Mr. Milner captured the nomination by a decisive 9,167 to 6,258 votes. He handily won the general election and, preaching unity, was re-elected in 1983 and 1985.
Gov. Ned Lamont, a fellow Democrat, said in a statement that Mr. Milner had “used his influence to enact positive change in Hartford, particularly focusing many of his efforts on the need to ensure that all children — no matter their family’s income level or the neighborhood where they grew up — have access to a quality education.”
While in office Mr. Milner urged the Reagan administration to shift funds from military spending to provide aid for the nation’s disadvantaged and lobbied for the redevelopment of the city’s Union Station. He was regarded as a mentor to budding Black political figures.
Under Hartford’s City Charter at the time, the city manager and the City Council each eclipsed the mayor’s prerogative. But the leader of the Council majority elected in 1981 with Mr. Milner was the first Black Council member to hold the post and doubled as deputy mayor.
When he unseated Mr. Athanson in 1981, Mr. Milner said, “The proudest thing in my life was not becoming mayor myself, but the fact that it gave my mother a chance to see her youngest son become mayor of the city where she grew up.”
Thirman Leonard Milner was born on Oct. 29, 1933, in Hartford, a descendant of enslaved people and Native Americans. His great-great-great-great grandfather fought against the British in the American Revolution. His father, Henry Marshall Milner, was hospitalized when Thirman was 3 and remained confined until he died seven years later. His mother was Grace (Stewart) Milner.
Thirman grew up part of the time with a relative who operated a summer camp in Glastonbury, Conn. He attended high school there but left during junior year. After serving in the Air Force, he attended New York University but did not graduate. He held jobs as an insurance salesman, a hospital orderly, a drugstore clerk and a purchaser for a Black-owned heating oil dealer. He also worked for an anti-poverty program.
He ran for a seat in the Legislature in 1976, barely losing a primary race. Two years later, he won the nomination and the election while also working on Mayor Athanson’s re-election campaign. In the General Assembly, he chaired the Black caucus and was known as a low-key but skillful legislator.
He retired in 1987, he said, because doctors diagnosed him with prostate cancer and gave him three months to live.
Both his marriages, to Mary Rogers and Brenda Monteiro, ended in divorce. In addition to Virginia Monteiro, he is survived by another stepdaughter, Theresa Rogers, and a stepson, Gary Rogers, from his first marriage; two stepsons, Joseph and Raymond Monteiro Jr., from his second marriage; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Another stepson, Manuel Monteiro, died this year.
In 2010, Mr. Milner published a memoir titled “Up from Slavery: A History from Slavery to City Hall in New England.” The Thirman L. Milner Middle Grades Academy in Hartford is named for him.
“His tenure was marked by significant strides toward equity, justice, and empowerment for all,” the N.A.A.C.P. said in a statement announcing his death. Shirley Surgeon, president of the Hartford City Council, praised Mr. Milner’s perseverance and a style of leadership that, she told The Hartford Courant, was “grounded in compassion and commitment.”
She quoted the former mayor as saying that leadership also required collaboration. “If I walked down the street by myself, I would be called a fool,” he said, “but if I have the community marching behind me, I will be called a leader.”
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