The first African American mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley (1917-1998) won election five times, serving a record 20 years in a city where African Americans constituted a small minority of the electorate. He was twice (1982, 1986) the Democratic candidate for governor of California.

Born to an east central Texas sharecropper family of Crenner (Hawkins) and Lee Thomas Bradley on December 29, 1917, Bradley was one of seven children. When he was only seven years old his family moved to Los Angeles, where his mother worked as a domestic servant and his father at various jobs including waiting tables and Pullman car porter. A talented athlete, Bradley excelled in football and the 440-yard dash at Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. After high school he enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles to become a track star.

Dropping out of college Bradley joined the Los Angeles police force for what...